New World
by GlowBlade998
Summary: In which the author and 2 friends get sucked into the world of Monsuno by a magical paintbrush. And manage to screw things up beyond belief, for better and worse. Warning: May include slight swearing, slash, OOCness, heart attacks, self-induced craziness, and cause the sky to fall. May have a plotline, but does have good grammar.
1. Trouble Begins

The Creator Enters the Monsuno World

Bright orange flash of light – and a tallish, slightly chubby 14 year old girl falls from three meters high.

Core-Tech stopped in their tracks, staring at her is shock.

Silence.

"Um..." Chase said slowly, staring at her. "What just happened?"

"And who the crag is that!" Bren exclaimed, pointing at her. Said girl stood up, eyes immediately flying open. "Hey, Dax, she looks like - "

"ERMAGASH!" she cried, flying upwards. They all jumped. "I can't believe it! I'm here! Brooke – aka Glowblade998 – aka the Creator – is here! Badaboom, baby!"

She had long, messy dark brown hair, over-bright eyes that were as dark as dark chocolate and olive skin. She began to dance on the spot. Then she froze and stared at Beyal.

Said monk took a few steps back, looking to the others for support before the girl flew at him, tackling him into a giant hug.

"Omigoshthisissoawesomeilovey ousomuch - " she yelled happily, everything coming out in a rush. Beyal looked to his tribe in panic. There were two more flashes – now a blue and purple one.

"Beth! Aimee! You're here! Omigosh this is the best ever." the girl – Brooke cried, clapping her hands.

"Oh Brooke, what have you done now?" Aimee groaned, while Beth stood in shock with a huge grin on her face.

"I don't care – it's epic!" Beth cheered, clapping wildly. Aimee huffed.

"Well, Niall's not here. So it's NOT epic." she argued.

"Niall can go drown in a fish bowl, we're with Core-Tech!" the smaller girl said triumphantly.

Beth had frizzy, dusty brown hair in a plait down her side and icy blue eyes, while Aimee had mousy brown hair in a sort of wave to her shoulders. Brooke hopped up – Beyal still staring with a fearful look in his eyes.

Freezing, she checked the pockets of her brown pants. "I have my Monsunos! YESSAH!"

Beth immediately checked her pocket, Aimee following grudgingly behind. Both teens found their blue Cores in their pocket.

Someone cleared their throats.

"Yeah – nice to meet you, whoever you are." Jinja said awkwardly. "But – how the heck did you get here?"

Before Beth and Aimee could say anything, Brooke opened her mouth.

"Well you see, in our dimension there's a anime cartoon thingy called Monsuno and it had you guys in it. We – well, me and Beth – watch it religiously and know so many things – hey, wonder what episode we're in? - but anyway, I'm kinda the creator. Magical paintbrush n' all - " here she waved a glowy paintbrush around "- and so while at school – in Business actually, I was bored so I got the paintbrush from god knows where and wished I was here, but I didn't want to be lonely and accidentally wished Beth and Aimee here – and now I've met you and Daxy and snowball are here and this is so awesome!"

Her sentence finished with a large exhale. Core-Tech seemed to let out a deep breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Okay...so you're here from some magical paintbrush." Dax deadpanned. When she nodded, he facepalmed. "If I didn't see it with my own eyes I'd've personally tightened your straitjacket."

"It doesn't matter – she'd just break loose." Aimee shrugged. Pause. "Where the hell are we?"

"I 'unno." Beth shrugged. She turned to Chase. "What exactly happened to get you here?"

"U-um..." Chase stammered. "We just escaped from an old Klipse mine. We lost a friend." he said quietly.

"Jon Ace?' Brooke's eyes lightened. "Oh no, he's not dead."

All eyes snapped to her – except for Beth's.

Bren looked eager. "Well, where is he, what happened?"

Beth dulled. "He kinda got mutated into a giant Monsuno and is controlled by Klipse until episode 26 – end of Season one. Then Chase's dad brings him to and he kinda joins us."

Pause again. Core-Tech seemed crestfallen, especially Beyal.

"C'mon snowball, ain't your fault." Brooke said sympathetically. Beyal's eyes snapped to her. "He knew what he was doin'. He's a big boy, he can handle himself."

"Hello?" Everyone turned to look at Aimee. "Um, I don't know what you're all talking about. At all." She waved her arms to make a point.

"You'll get it someday." Beth said cheerfully, now out've her mood. "At least Harriet isn't here."

Aimee seemed to cheer up. "A day without Steve is a good day." she agreed. Brooke huffed.

"Don't be mean." she chided. She turned to the still shell-shocked Core-Tech. "So, where to, oh so esteemed leader?"  
"Wait – you're following us?" Beyal cried, looking up in horror. "Ohnonono, she can't come with us!" he exclaimed, pointing at Brooke. "No no no no - "

"We can't just leave them, monkfish." Dax said reluctantly, helping him up.

"POLARSHIPPING!" Brooke squealed. Dax gave her a wtf look. "Y'know, the you Beyal pairing."

Dax stood for a moment. "Me – and him?" he pointed between him and Beyal. "No – just no. I can't see it." he paused. "And I'm straight."

"Shit, here we go." Aimee muttered, as Brooke and Beth got a steely glint in their eyes. She covered her ears.

Brooke was the first to open her mouth. "I DON'T GIVE THREE FUCKS WHETHER YOU CAN SEE IT OR NOT! I DON'T CARE WHETHER YOU'RE STRAIGHT OR NOT! INSULT MY OTP AND I'LL RIP YOUR FACE OFF!"

"Wait - " Beth took a break from being mad and turned to face the darker haired girl. "You'd rip his face off – even if he's part of the pairing?"

"Well – no." Brooke admitted, giving a frozen Dax and Beyal a huffy look. "But for the sake of Slenderman, I will get them together no matter the cost!"

"Um - " Bren said. "They're right there." he said, pointing at Dax and Beyal. Dax, in turn, gave a little wave to prove it.

"I don't care, let's go." Brooke muttered, now severely pissed.

Aimee gave the group a glare. "Fuck you, now she's in a bad mood."

~

"I'm hungry." Aimee said idly, kicking a stone.

"Me too." Beth agreed.

"I third that." Bren groaned. Core-Tech still hadn't gotten used to the new travelers, but Bren seemed to be adapting, finding he had many things in common with them. Well, at least Beth and Aimee. Brooke hadn't said a word to anyone since her royal temper tantrum.

"Can we stop off at, like, KFC or something." Aimee moaned. "Or I swear I'm gonna die."

"We're wanted, Poofy." Dax snapped. Aimee froze.

"Poofy?" she mouthed in outrage. Beth shrugged. Brooke remained silent.

"Oi – Grumpy." Dax called to Brooke. She ignored him, however her hands clenched. "I know you can hear me. It's rude to ignore people"

Silence.  
"C'mon, Poofy and Midget are complaining, give em' something."

"I'll give you something - " she muttered and turned to him. "They're perfectly capable of tearing you down for food, so why don't YOU give THEM something?"

Dax raised an eyebrow. Everyone sensed a storm rising and shuffled away, especially Beyal. The dark, Aussie girl had terrified the wits out of him.

"So much for 'I love you so much!'" Dax mocked. "'Omigosh, this is so awesome - '"

Brooke's hands clenched further and further as her eyes narrowed to slits. She began to shake. All the sudden she whirled around and WHAMED Dax in the face. The dark skinned teen stumbled back in shock.

He was about to yell at her – perhaps get her back – until he realized she had disappeared.

"Oh, come ON!' Aimee groaned loudly. "Another disappearing act – in the middle of the forest. Just GREAT!" she glared at Dax. "You shouldn't have teased her!"

"Hey!" Jinja snapped. " She started it!"

"Oh, so you wanna go?" Aimee exclaimed angrily. The rest of Core-Tech stood to defend Dax, when -

"Hey, back up!" Beth dove between the fight. "Let's settle this nicely – it was no one's and everyone's fault, let's just shut up and find her before someone else does."

"I think we might be too late." Beyal said quietly, pointing at the sky.

It was a STORM hopper.

~

"Goddamn stupid me an my stupid mouth – and fist!" Brooke muttered angrily to herself as she trumped through the forest. "Now I'm lost and hungry and PISSED beyond belief - "

"Language, girl."

What the fu - ?! Who the heck -

"Over here." Brooke turned towards the familiar voice. Blond. German. Heavy make up.

"Charlemange." the girl said in surprise. Holy fudgcicles, when did she get here?

"Zhat iz Commandant Marshal Charlemagne to you, girl."

"But - " Brooke thought it probably wasn't the best thing to say it was too long to say. "U-um – what are you doing here?"

"I ask zhe questions here, girl." Charlemange snapped. "Vhat iz your name?"

"Brooke, ma'am." she said as politely as she could manage. These people had guns. And Monsuno's.

But then again, so did she...

She counted the numbers. Nup, too many, and she was too freaked to try anything. Back in her dimension she had been Team STORM – and it hadn't changed, even though she loved Core-Tech immensely.

"Full name." the guy beside her said, smirking. Huh, Trey was here.

"Brooke...Martinez?" Stealing Dax's last name seemed okay – especially because she wasn't exactly sure it was his actual last name.

"You vere traveling vith Chase Suno, no?" she asked, giving the younger girl a condescending look. Brooke couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"Briefly. I decided to leave." she said coldly. Ain't nobody gonna boss her around! Even if she was a scary leader of a large group of soldiers. Remember, Charlie-bear, it's only Charlie-bear...

The woman gave her a calculating glance. "You are to come vith us. Shall you decide to come villingly, ve may allow you to stay and become a part of S.T.O.R.M. If not..."

Was that a threat. She was fairly certain it was! Gack, now what did she do. No matter how pissed off she was, she shouldn't just leave them -

Voices could be heard running towards them. "That friend of yours is so stupid! Just walk right into STORM - "

"I'm in!" Brooke said immediately.

~

"I swear - "

"Jin, okay, we get it!" Chase yelled. "You don't like her. Okay!"

"I don't like her much either." Dax muttered, cheek still stinging. Beyal murmured her agreement while Bren shrugged. "I mean, she was all 'I love you!' one minute, and then she was grumpy – she's controlling and demanding and loud and arrogant - "

"Sounds like someone else I know." Aimee muttered, glaring at Dax.

"Can it, Poofy."

"MY HAIR IS NOT POOFY!"

"Shhh! Listen!" Beth whispered, halting. The rest of the group paused and shut up, listening.

"I don't hear anything." Jinja grumbled.

"Exactly." Beth said. "Wouldn't you hear a chopper? Or voices? Or fighting?" she paused a moment. "Or even birds!" The cried, waving her hands in the air. A few birds screeched and darted out've their places. Beth lowered her hands. "Oh."

"Nice one." Dax said sarcastically.

"You really remind me of Harriet." Aimee snapped, folding her arms. "And Brooke."

Dax scoffed, and even the other team members looked insulted. "I'm nothing like Grumpy! She was just plain rude!"

"Like you." Aimee shot back.

Dax's reply was drowned out by the sound of a hopper starting up.

"Well, there's your chopper!" Chase yelled. "And it looks like they've got her! C'mon!"

"Wait!" Beth cried. "This isn't right! Brooke wouldn't have gone along willingly, unless - "

"Unless she WAS willing." Aimee said slowly. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"We still have to try." Chase said finally.

END OF CHAPTER ONE


	2. The Dark Side Has Cookies

The Creator (and Beth and Aimee) Enter Monsuno World

Well, Brooke thought gloomily, it could be worse.

The dark haired girl was currently slouching in her chair on the chopper, staring out the window and trying not to freak out at how high she was. Trey was in the pilots seat, and kept shooting her creepy glances. Dare she tell him to take a picture? And say she'd pose if he was nice? She eyed the gun next to him. Probably not...

Charlemange was in a passenger chair next to him, sitting stoically, heavy make up making her look so fake even China would deny they made her. Perhaps she should do what one of the most bitchiest and rule abiding teachers at school would do and hand her a make up wipe? She eyed the gun again. No, maybe not.

Or...or she could WISH herself from there! Her hand dove into her pocket to grab the paint brush when she realized – fuck, it wasn't there! Trying to calm her thudding heart, she knew that without it she could never leave. Beth and Aimee didn't know how to work it, and if they did, then she probably still wasn't leaving.

Goddammit, she had the worst luck.

"WHOOO HOOOO!"

Beth's scream could be heard even from the Lowlands and she rode on Vileblaze behind Dax. Her hands were thrown in the air and he plait was whipping wildly in the breeze. Not too far away, Aimee was clinging onto Chase for dear life as Evo flew along. Wide-eyed, she yelled at Beth, "I HATE YOU! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

Beth merely laughed and looked down. Below them, the once vast forests were now dry deserts as the group flew over the Lowlands. They could see, quite far in front of them, the STORM hopper that had their maybe-turncoat somewhat friend/enemy person.

"I still don't know why we're trying to rescue her," Dax yawned, still put out that they had decided to follow. "I mean, if what Poofy and Plaits said is true, then we're just walking into a high altitude death trap."

"I thought you liked high altitude death traps." Beth shot at him, poking him in the back.

"When did I say that?" Dax said irritably.

"Episode 24." she shrugged.

Dax growled under his breath.

"I agree with Dax," Jinja piped up. "I mean, she'd probably just hand us over to Charlemange, and what use are we then?"

"If we don't try then we could be leaving her to die." Chase said firmly. Aimee and Beth laughed.

"I'd be more worried about this Charlemagne chick." Aimee snickered.

"I would too." Beyal shivered, eyes going wide in fear. Bren raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"She really freaked you out." he shook his head and checked the Core-Tablet. He frowned. "I've lost their location."

"What do you mean you 'lost it'?" Dax narrowed his eyes at the geek, who flinched back.

"It vanished!" he cried in defense. "It looks like they've become indiscoverable or something!".

The whole team exchanged nervous glances, even Dax and Jinja. This wasn't good.

"Cool!" Brooke exclaimed as she was led from the hopper. It was so big! And shiny! And BIG!

"Glad you think so." Trey smirked. "It's we're you're going to be staying, provided you are...co-operable." he leered at her. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"You're creepy, mate. I'll give you that." she said wryly, earning her a glance from Charley-bear. The Commandant-Marshal said nothing as Trey dragged her down several hallways. It was a winding maze, and she was getting irritated with Trey's grip on her.

"I can walk perfectly fine." she snapped. He tightened his grip.

"You might get lost." he said, eyes forward.

"Yeah, because the Commandant-Marshal is so short and unrecognizable, and these hallways are SO crowded." Brooke said, her usual sarcasm coming into play. She was surprised Charlemange hadn't threatened to sew her mouth shut yet. Not that she was complaining.

"Here, Commander Trey." Charlemange said suddenly, stopping. Brooke nearly smashed into the Commandant-Marshal if Trey hadn't of been cutting off her arms circulation. Trey shoved her into the room before shutting the door. She and Charley-bear were alone.

"Zo." was all the Commandant said, taking a seat behind her desk. Brooke was sorely tempted to say 'So what?' but thought that she may just ruin her chances here. So she stood awkwardly until Charley motioned for her to sit. Pulling a chair out, she sunk down and tried to sit up straight.

Yellow eyes stared into dark drown for a heartbeat before Charlemange sighed. "Child, I zaw how you got here. By zhat gloving...paintbrush?"

"Aye." Brooke stared wide-eyed. Shit! If she was going to ask for the brush - ! Before the teen could panic, Charlemange pulled something from her pocket. The paintbrush!

"I have a...proposition." The blonde's voice was full of cunning. "I shall let you train here, and become a full STORM elite...and I shall give zis back." she waved the brush in the air. Brooke was processing this slowly. Why would Charley bear want her to join STORM? Was this some odd plot twist, or a plothole she left in?

"Um...what's in it for you?" Brooke asked hesitantly. Charlemange smirked.

"Zo, we think ze zame. You and I are very alike." her smirk grew wider. "You shall become my little veapon, even if I must train you myself."

Weapon?! Against who?

"Child." she whispered. "You shall help me take over ze vorld."

* * *

"Uh, Chase?" Bren said uneasily. "We're almost outta time."

"Are we all ready to switch?" Chase said loudly. They were heading towards land now, now about to use their non-flying Monsuno's.

"I am fully prepared!" Beyal nodded, gripping Glowblade's Core.

"Mememe! I wanna launch!" Beth cried, grabbing her own Core. She knew who it was – Brooke had designed them Monsuno's a while ago, though she had never expected to ever launch them.

Chase sighed. "Okay, you can launch..." he muttered.

Both Beth and Beyal aimed at rocks on either side of them, while Chase aimed right in front of him.

"Lock, launch!" He cried, launching the Core.

"Glowblade/Oreo, Launch!" both Beth and Beyal launched just afterwards. The three blue Cores spun towards their targets, and met with a satisfying CLINK!

Lock was out front. The large polar bear ran to catch up with Evo, white fur streaming. Glowblade was to his left, Beyal, Bren and Jinja on top of the three heads. A giant panda erupted from the third. Oreo was covered in patches of glowy blue and a ring around each eye. Oddly, he didn't have any crystals.

"Jump!" Dax cried, grabbing Beth's hand as they both jumped onto Oreo. They landed on the soft fur, getting comfortable. "Hm, nice Monsuno." he said grudgingly.

"He's awesome!" Beth agreed, patting Oreo's head.

"Guys, look out for any STORM agents. We don't want to be caught off guard." Chase warned.

"Like that one?" Beth pointed at the STORM agent in the trees.

"Or those ones?" Jinja added, pointing at a group of them. Chase cursed as they began to shoot. Lock spun around as Chase and Aimee slid off. The whole Team grabbed their Cores. Many groups of agents left the trees, guns pointed, some still shooting.

"Lock, Elemental Bunker!" Chase cried and Beth yelled, "Oreo, cream 'em!"

Locks bright shimmery shield did nothing to stop the sudden burst of cream Oreo shot at the group. It covered the agents, clogged their guns and overall stopped them in their tracks.

The rest of Core Tech stared at Beth as Aimee was rolling on the ground with laughter.

"I was serious when I named him Oreo." Beth shrugged.

"Uh, GUYS! There's MORE!" Bren shrieked. Jinja snarled.

"They just keep coming!" she cried, glaring. "I blame your friend, if she hadn't of gotten captured - "

"Glowblade, Electric Barrage!"

The sudden order shut Jinja up. Glowblade was already...fighting? That's weird. The bright purple energy disks hit the oncoming horde as the next order came. "Deadly Deluge!"

Beyal's voice was firm. Glowblade hissed and glowed purple. A bright beam of energy left each head, intertwining, forcefully repelling the STORM agents. The white haired monk turned to the rest of his team.

"Are we to stand here and let them arrive, or shall we move on?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Chase gave a small laugh.

"I agree with Beyal, let's just find her."

"But I don't wanna cut my hair!" Brooke wailed, dodging behind the tall chair.

"Child, for zhe love of - " Charlemange growled and facepalmed. "I am not cut out for zhis." She turned back to Brooke. "I von't allow long hair. It gets in zhe vay!"

"I'll tie it back!" Brooke pleaded, clutching onto the chair. Charlemange grabbed her arm and wrenched her in, binding her down.

"Zhere." The Commandant-Marshal sighed in relief. "Now..." Charlemange raised the scissors.

"At least tell me you aren't gonna do a hack job." the younger girl sulked. Charlemange raised an eyebrow.

"Girl, I did not get a degree in hairstyling for nozink. Now hold still..."

"Wait – you got a degree in hairstyling?" Brooke asked, shocked. Charlemange didn't reply.

Brooke looked at her new hair in the mirror. It was much shorter now, that was certain. She had a side fringe as well – didn't see how that was stopping hair from getting in the way, but it looked cool. And it felt much lighter. Charlemange stood off to the side, giving her a smug look.

"Vell?" she said loftily. Brooke harrumphed.

"Well, I guess it's pretty awesome." she said grudgingly.

"Vhat did I say? I told you it vould turn out vell." Charlemange said, examining her nails with the same smug look. This was not the Charlemange of the original series.

"No, you said to sit down and stop squirming." Brooke huffed, but before she could say any more, Trey burst into the room.

"Commandant-Marshal Charlemange, the rogue controllers!" He gasped. "They're attacking!"

"Vhat? And you couldn't take care of zhem?" Charlemange raged. Trey shook his head.

"The plaits ones Monsuno keeps shooting some sort of sticky cream, it's clogging the artillery!" Trey panted, hands on his needs. What a wimp! Brooke rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help but be a little worried for her friends. She knew she had to help Charley to get the paintbrush to get home, but -

"I believe they're trying to get this one back." Trey motioned towards the dark haired girl. Brooke facepalmed.

"Well, no duh, Sherlock!" she said sarcastically. "Unless they're trying to commit suicide, why else would they be here!?"

Charlemange glanced at Brooke with thoughtful, slightly distrusting eyes. "You take zhem out, and you have a place here." she ordered. "Go."

This was the worst day of her life.

"Okay, so we go in, grab her, go out." Dax said firmly, sitting behind Dax on Oreo.

"It may not be that simple Dax." Beyal called over to him. "She may have decided to join them."

Dax frowned and looked down. Ever since Brooke, Aimee and Beth had appeared he had been having really weird thoughts about Beyal. A reason why he wanted them to leave so bad. So things would be NORMAL again. Well, as normal as they possibly could.

"We have to try." Chase said firmly. Jinja rolled her eyes.

"You're just like Harry Potter," she said with a scowl. "You have this saving-people thing. A hero complex. It isn't good Chase."

Aimee rolled her eyes. She really didn't like this Jinja. All she did was whine and complain, and not in a funny way. More of an annoying, spoilt toddler way.

"At least he's trying! If you're scared then say it!" Aimee snapped. Jinja looked like she wanted to hit Aimee, but it was pretty hard to do that on a moving Monsuno. Not to mention that she was on Glowblade while the other girl was on Lock. She'd probably end up killing herself.

"I'm not scared!" was all she said.

"Sure Jinja – AHHHH!" Bren's cry startled them. A giant black bird seemed to have swooped them, screeching angrily. Beth squinted up, then her eyes widened.

"That's Gryff!" she cried.

"Um...who?" Dax asked, confused.

"Brooke's Monsuno!" Beth exclaimed, giving him a wide-eyed look.

Silence. Then -

"Shit!" Aimee yelled as the bird swooped again, effectively knocking her and Chase off Lock. They both tumbled and hit the ground hard. Aimee felt woozy as she heard someone yell something.

"Gryff, Shatter Shot!"

Aimee rolled out of the way of the bright yellow shards off...crystal?

"You bitch you almost killed me!" she screamed up at Brooke. She grabbed her Core, unaware of what she was doing. "COVA, LAUNCH!"

Her blue Core clinked against a tree, releasing blue essence. It slowly rose higher and higher, and everyone watched in amazement as a giant blue giraffe with fins emerged. It was Beyal that commented first.

"This escalated quickly." he whispered, looking wide eyed at the amazingly tall Monsuno.

"You can say that again." Bren whistled. "How did it fit in the Core?"

Cova took a swipe at the flying rooster eagle thing with it's long neck. Brooke nearly got sliced in half. Gryff screeched and dove downward, scraping his razor beak along the side of the Monsuno's neck. Aimee's eyes widened as the weird glowing circle hologram above the Core lost a good few bars.

"I take it that's a health meter." she said dryly. "Cova, Power Wave!"

The Monsuno swung it's neck, seemingly creating a giant wave of energy. It crashed around Gryff and Brooke, and they could here Gryff's pained squawks. From above they heard her cry something, and Gryff was encased in a yellow orb. It seemed to pulse and absorb the energy from the wave. When the attack finally stopped, the orb began to keen and suck inward.

"No...COVA DUCK!" But the orb had already blasted outwards. Cova's own attack had been turned against him, and the Monsuno cried out once more before being turned back into essence. The essence barely had time to return to the Core before Gryff had swooped down and caught Aimee in it's claws.

"Aimee! SHIT!" Beth began to curse as she jumped on Oreo again. "Now we really do have a rescue mission! LET'S GO!"

"Um...my tribe..." Beyal's voice was faint. "I don't think I'm going with you."

"Wha – why - ?" Dax sputtered, but the answer was clear when he looked at Beyal's stomach, where blood was slowly spreading. Gryff's claw had clipped him when he had first swooped Glowblade.

There was silence for a moment.

Then pandemonium.


	3. Two Words: Anger Management

The Creator (and Aimee and Beth) Enter Monsuno World

If guilt was weight, Brooke would be 3 times heavier than an elephant. She was so tempted to fly back and plead, explain, but if she turned her back on Charlemange she wouldn't get the paintbrush, and therefore wouldn't be able to get home. So she sat tight and put her game face on.

Brooke was many things. Arrogant. Sarcastic. Smart. Creative. Insane. She wasn't ashamed to admit any of it. But at that moment, shame and hate welled inside her at her own cowardice.

I gotta get that brush, she thought dully.

I knew this was a bad idea! Jinja growled, urging Charger on. The moose/bison hybrid grunted and ran faster, muscles straining.

Jinja, while she wished these dimensional travelers would just go, didn't want to see them hurt. Well, at least she didn't want Aimee and Beth to get hurt. Brooke could be lion fodder for all she cared.

We get it! Chase cried, now using Nightstone. The jackal like Monsuno was leaping through the forest, already knowing their destination was near. Beth was riding with Chase, Oreo having used up it's time out of it's Core. She hadn't spoken in a while.

I just hope Beyal's okay, Jinja said worriedly. That cut looked bad.

He'll be okay. Chase assured her, slowing Nightstone down. Dax and Bren will take good care of him. Right, Beth?

But Beth didn't answer. Her gaze was focused on a giant turret rising from the ground, a giant bird-like figure perched on top.

Brooke had landed Aimee with her.

Beyal winced as the sodden wet fabric dabbed over his wound. It hurt so much! The talon had struck so quickly that he barely noticed the pain until now.

It's not very deep, Bren said, scanning the tablet over his wound. We just need a way to close it.

Well get off your ass and find something! Dax growled, lightly clearing off more blood. Beyal hissed and flinched. Sorry! he added hastily.

Beyal shook his head. It's not your fault Dax. he whispered. He paused for a second, looking around. Where's Bren?

I think he's gone to find something to close this. Dax grimaced at the state of his jacket. Oh well, it's fabric, he thought, sighing. It'll wash out. Beyal seemed to sense Dax's dismay, and looked away in guilt. It was his fault the jacket was ruined. Beyal knew the jacket meant something important to Dax.

Hey, a soft voice called him from his thoughts. Don't waste your energy feeling guilty monkfish. Dax gave him a smile. It's not your fault, she was too quick. The monk felt a hand brush the hair from his face.

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments, until -

Guys! I know how to close Beyal's cut! Bren cried happily. Dax snorted.

Cut? he murmured. More like bloody gash.

Bren ignored Dax and held up a handful of a sticky, sweet smelling substance. Beyal raised an eyebrow.

We're going to heal a Monsuno-made wound with Monsuno energy? he said, unconvinced. Bren shrugged and huffed.

You have a better idea? he asked, smirking as Beyal flushed and looked away. That's what I thought.

Kneeling beside Beyal, he lightly applied a small amount over the end of the wound. Beyal gasped and flinched, shuddering. The wound was burning and itching horribly, but the pain seemed to be fading rapidly. He looked down at his stomach, eyes widening. The wound seemed to be healing where the energy was applied.

Dax stared at Bren. You, mate, are a bloody genius.

Bren grinned triumphantly. I know.

Hm. I'm impressed, Trey said reluctantly. I didn't think you'd be able to snatch one.

Always the tonne of surprises. Brooke answered gloomily. She could here Aimee in the next room, yelling at the guards to let her go. She'd just captured one of her best friends to lead her other friends into a trap. Not exactly the best was to win the Best Friend of the Year award.

The door suddenly slammed open at the end of the hall. The two guards were clutching onto both of Aimee's arms, and she writhed and snapped at them as they dragged her down the hall. Trey snarled.

What do you think you're doing? he demanded, gesturing wildly at Aimee.

Sorry sir, the left guard said guiltily. We're moving her to a higher lever security holding room. She's bitten and kicked a soldier and tried to attack us.

Trey gave him a stony look, while Brooke didn't look at all. She could feel Aimee's eyes on her. Brooke. she said suddenly. The dark haired girl shifted guiltily, but turned to the guards.

Take her to the holding cell. she said softly.

Aimee's eyes widened, and she thrashed at her captors. Traitor! she yelled.

Brooke set her jaw and looked Aimee square in the eyes. Gag her as well. she ordered. It probably wasn't her place to do so, but she couldn't bear Aimee's screams of traitor. She had to focus on getting the paintbrush. She could explain then.

Hopefully, unless they were planning on mauling her.

Until then, she'd find a place in STORM.

Okay, here's the plan. Chase whispered. Jinja, you take Charger in and ram at the doors. Keep them distracted for as long as humanely possible. Jinja nodded. Chase turned to Beth. You and I take the back way in, and dodge around any guards. They'll be holding her in the security cells.

And where are they security cells, may I ask? Beth asked, raising an eyebrow. Chase fell silent, then cursed.

I believe they are right underneath the Commandants office. came a voice from not too far. All heads whirled towards a giant mosquito/centipede Monsuno, carrying Dax, Bren and a fully healed Beyal.

But that's just what the tablet says. Bren shrugged, sliding off Vileblaze. Jinja squealed, rushing over to hug Beyal.

You're okay! she exclaimed happily. Beyal winced but smiled.

Yes, all thanks to these two. he said dryly, motioning towards Dax and Bren. Bren gave a mock bow while Dax merely grinned. As it turns out, the odd glob stuff Oreo produces has the ability to heal wounds.

At Jinja's incredulous stare, Bren shrugged. It was worth a shot.

So, Chase clapped his hands together. Me, Bren and Beth'll go and fetch Aimee, while Dax, Jinja and Beyal will lead team distraction. We meet back here and fly away. Got it?

Everyone nodded, game faces on.

It was show time.

You did very vell. Charlemange said softly.

They were sitting in her office yet again. Charlemange sat quietly on her throne-like spinny chair, observing the fidgeting Brooke in the plain, uncomfortable chair.

I guess. she mumbled, looking anywhere but at the Commandant.

Charlemange stared at her for a little, then suddenly barked, Sit up and look me in ze eye, child. You are a STORM agent, not a preschooler.

Brooke's eyes snapped up as her back straightened. Charlemagne's yellow eyes bored into her dark ones, and Brooke had a hard time not looking away. But she held, staring back with almost insolence, a new pride and anger raising in her. It was this woman's fault that she had to turn her back on her friends, all because of an accidental wish by a magic paintbrush.

The nerve of this woman!

Charlemange nodded grimly, seeming pleased with her evaluation.

You have a strong character, child. Perhaps zere iz hope for you yet. she said, pushing a Core towards Brooke. Zis is your official STORM core. and then she pushed a folder towards Brooke. And zis is your folder. It contains your identity, your STORM team or in zis case, partner Core information, status and other important information. Charlemagne leaned back. Commander Trey is waiting to take you to your shared quarters.

Brooke took this as a dismissal. Standing up stiffly, she slowly exited the Commandant's domain, still feeling the yellow eyes drilling into her.

Trey was waiting outside, as promised. He had an odd look on his face as he marched her down a winding set of corridors.

You'll find a map inside your folder. he said suddenly, breaking the silence and startling Brooke. We don't always stay in the same place, but this is the main base. You have a watch in there that will alert you to incoming assignments, as well. he added, giving her a thoughtful look. He stopped outside a door.

This is yours. You may find it a little awkward, considering you're the only female here. he grimaced.

Nice. she said dryly, feeling somewhat relieved. She didn't feel like getting into bitch fights. As she was about to press the button to open the door, she felt Trey's hand lightly tap her shoulder. She turned to look at him.

Also, let me be the first to officially welcome you to STORM. he smirked, then turned on his heel and left.

She shook her head in bewilderment and pressed the button. Stepping awkwardly inside, she took a glance around. Adequately furnished, it seemed to contain two separate single beds on either side of the room, a bedside table bare of anything except a tacky lamp, a set of drawers and a bathroom. The room seemed empty at first, until she noticed that someone was actually occupying a bed.

It was obviously a guy, but -

You got to keep your hair! she cried, pointing at the stunned male's hair.

And you're a chick. he said, staring at her. They both stared for a while. Then he held out a hand.

Noah and yeah, I hide my hair, so... he trailed off, giving her an uncertain look. She took his hand and shook it.

Brooke and yeah, female, I see you don't get many of those around here. she shrugged, feeling a headache coming on. Christ I need sleep you wouldn't BELIEVE the day I've had. she groaned.

Noah shook his head, still stunned. Noah's hair curled slightly, ending just past his shoulders, although it was tied up loosely. His hair was a light, sandy colour, and his eyes were a pale blue. Add the slight smatter of freckles across his nose and cheeks, and you could quite possibly say he was rather cute.

Well, you should get some rest - he began to speak, until a loud beeping sound came from his wrist, and Brooke's folder, - but not right now. he muttered, looking at his watch. Brooke groaned and grabbed her folder, rifling through until she found the source of the beeping. Noah all the sudden jumped and cursed as he read the message on the hologram, while Brooke had just attached her watch.

The rogue controllers are attacking? she asked dryly, already expecting another rescue attack.

Yep. he groaned. Why can't they just leave us to our job? he cried angrily. Brooke gave him a thoughtful look. She had never thought of how Core-Tech might affect STORM. It always seemed like STORM was always attacking them, but then again, in a lot of episodes, it was Core-Tech attacking STORM too. Hm...

Both teens ran down the hallway Brooke was pretty sure Noah was a teen, he looked no older than 16 the dark haired girl following the guy. She wasn't quite sure where she was going, and she grabbed onto Noah lightly so she wouldn't lose him amongst the throngs of other STORM members. It wasn't long until she realized he was taking a different route to the others.

'Where are we going? she called desperately, starting to feel slightly light-headed from all the running. She really needed to get in shape...

I know a way out so that we take em by whoa ! he pulled to a halt and motioned for her to shut up. Slowly peaking around the corner, he cursed softly and whispered, Those bastards.

Puzzled, she took a peek. Bren, Chase and Beth were slowly sneaking down the hallway. They didn't seem to notice the spying STORM agents.

Okay, if we take the next left - which meant coming their way - and go straight - Bren was talking very loudly.

B, keep it down! Chase hissed.

Brooke gave Noah a strained look. What are we gonna do? You're in charge of this, you've had more experience -

I say we launch and snatch em before they know what's goin' on. Noah said firmly, but he looked anxious. Brooke gripped the new Core...no, she'd test it another time. She unhooked Molthen's Core and prepared.

You ready? she breathed. He gripped his own Core and nodded. They struck quickly, spinning out their Core's faster than a snake would strike a mouse.

Vapidblaze/Molthen, launch! They cried. The Core-Tech members stiffened and reached for their Core's. The STORM monsuno's had already solidified by the time Chase and Bren had launched.

Lock/Quickforce, LAUNCH!

The polar-bear Monsuno stood in all it's glory, next to a glowing hippogriff. Brooke didn't know how they were going to win, looking at Molthen's small, lithe form and Viperblaze's uneven legs, but goddamn, she'd try.

They pissed her off, called her stupid, complained about her, made her have to act against them and now they were interrupting her sleep time. Brooke snarled. Payback was coming in the shit loads.

Molthen, she said dangerously as Lock was about to strike, Molten Ivy.

Molthen's tail glowed as she slammed it against the ground. White hot vines began to burst in waves from the ground, wrapping around the polar bear and tightening there grip. Lock cried out, but the vines began to sear the fur and flesh underneath.

Lock, get out of there!' Chase yelled. Inner shine! The crystal's on the polar bear began to glow violently. Bright energy beams sliced the vines like cheese and threw Molthen back. Molthen made no noise the Monsuno had no mouth but you could sense the distress in her eyes.

Viperblaze was winning, large acid streams creating ponds around the hippogriff. Molthen stood up shakily, and Brooke nodded at her.

Molthen...take em down. she said grimly. The horse/catfish cross leapt neatly over her and Lock. Before the polar bear or Chase could do anything, Molthen brought her tail up like a scorpion and struck it down on Lock. Lock roared in pain and searing flames began to encase the Monsuno.

Lock! Chase cried in despair. Brooke would normally feel guilty, but she'd had enough. She just wanted this to end now. Molthen brought her tail up again -

Brooke, no! Beth's yell distracted Brooke from her thoughts. The smaller girl was clutching her Core. C'mon, no more Brooke, come back.

Brooke was so tempted by that offer. But she had nothing on Core-Tech. Not even the godforsaken paintbrush. She'd always be treated crap cos she wasn't as normal, she'd always be mistrusted, and she'd be further away from her dimension than ever before. So she did the only thing she could.

Molthen, strike em dead.

The globe on the end of her tail sent the polar bear back to his Core. Beth stared at Brooke in horror as Quickforce, too, was sent back to his Core. Oreo was drained, Lock and Quickforce beaten, and they were outnumbered.

Well, almost.

Hey! a cocky voice crowed from behind them. Brooke whirled around and snarled. Oh for the love of -

WILL. YOU. STOP. SHOWING. UP. HERE! she roared. 'MOLTHEN, INFERNO!

Molthen focused her gaze on the three-headed snake, frill-necked lizard and four armed vulture down the hall. She brought her tail up and slammed it one more. A rapid blaze sped down the hall. Noah yelled something else she couldn't here, but she didn't care. Her head was pounding, ears ringing, vision red, and all she could think of was the anger pounding through her.

Whipper - But Jinja didn't even need to shout a command as the lizard raised it's frill in defense. The flames dispersed and Molthen was drained. Vileblaze too, it seemed.

Hey, Noah whispered to Brooke in a strained voice. It's time to back down. We lost.

Not if I have anything to bloody -

That's it! Dax crowed. Run away like the measly cowards you are -

Brooke yelled in fury, about to leap towards them, but Noah pulled her back in alarm.

Don't be stupid, that's bloody suicide! he yelled.

I DON'T BLOODY CARE! I HATE THEM! she screeched. From the back of Whipper, Aimee's eyes widened, while Beth flinched from behind her. I HATE THEM ALL!

I get it, let's go and report to Charlemange. he whispered gently, dragging her away.

Core-Tech sat quietly around a fire, far away from the STORM base. They seemed to want to revel in their victory, but remained quiet, eyeing the two newbies. Aimee and Beth were sitting off to the side, pale, exhausted and gloomy.

Beyal was lying on a sleeping bag, staring at the stars, a hand resting on the new scar across his stomach. Dax kept shooting him furtive glances, while Jinja was staring moodily into the fire. Chase was nibbling at a sausage while Bren was just sitting there, looking forlorn.

Chase was the one to break the silence. I'm sorry you guys. he said sadly to Aimee and Beth. Aimee shrugged while Beth managed half a smile.

I was kinda expecting her to join STORM, she said hesitantly. But...I didn't expect it to go so bad...

Well it wasn't so bad... Jinja said thoughtfully. We know what to expect now.

And we know that Oreo can heal wounds. Beyal added. Bren nodded eagerly, but Dax flinched. Chase gave him a curious glance but said nothing.

We should get some shut eye, Dax said finally. The rest of the team agreed, and Jinja offered to share her sleeping bag with Beth, while Dax offered his own sleeping bag to Aimee.

That night, all of Core-Tech slept fitfully, unaware that another dark haired girl was doing the same thing.


	4. What Type of Rain Is This?

**Review Reply to Kryst - Thanks for the review! And I can't let that slip, it's a surprise X3**

New World Chapter 4

"Oi, c'mon, up!"

That voice sounded vaguely familiar...

Brooke squinted and sat up in her bed, confused. She almost wondered why she wasn't in her own bed, until, she realized with a pang of dread, that she was still trapped inside the Monsuno universe without any way of getting back. She vaguely wondered if her parents were worried, but shook her head and faced Noah.

Her rage at him and everything yesterday had diminished down to a forlorn acceptance.

"You better have a shower and check out your folders." he said gently. "We have to be at the Training Hall in about..." he checked his watch. "Half an hour."

Brooke fell out of bed and scrambled upward, zooming towards the draws. She already mucked it up in Core-Tech, no way was she mucking up her first official day on STROM. Brooke still felt bad about yesterday, although Charlemange had been pleased with their efforts, and rather ticked with the piss poor efforts of the other 'elites'.

"Argh...hey Noah, be a pal and start checking my folders, would you?" Brooke grunted, stumbling to the bathroom. Noah froze.

"You want me to check your private files?" he asked uncertainly. Brooke shrugged.

"Sure, why not, I trust you." she said offhandedly, shutting the bathroom door and turning on the shower.

Noah stared after the new girl in shock. When he first arrived at STORM, very few had liked him because he was open-minded and actually cared about doing good in STORM, while everyone else was lazy and only did work when they had to. Now he found a girl who had a somewhat same mind frame – admittedly with several anger issues – and trusted him enough to let him go through the files that defined her whole life in STORM. After one day!

He sighed in disbelief and slid the folder over to him, idly flipping through them. He memorized her timetable – all the same with him, although she had a few extra spots that were scheduled with...Commandant-Marshal Charlemange? Noah's eyes widened.

"Holy shit!" he gasped. What on earth - ?

He flipped through the files once more. He found her rank – same as him – basically everything was the exact same as his...but why did she have training with Charlemange?

He vaguely heard the water shutting off. It was a good 10 minutes later when she opened the bathroom door, hair half dry and uniform wonky. She frowned at her uniform.

"Could you help me fix this up?" she asked, trying to straighten it. He stumbled over and fumbled with the buttons – she'd buttoned them up wrong – still thinking. It didn't really occur to him that he was standing close to a living and breathing female, and that he was messing with her clothes.

When he'd made her look half respectable, he finally brought up the subject of her timetable.

"Lemme see." she muttered, eyes raking the paper. "Huh, Charley bear really did give me lessons."

"On...what exactly?" Noah asked hesitantly, not wanting to push the boundaries. She shrugged, looking clueless.

"I dunno, maybe since I'm the only girl she wants to depart useful information. Maybe sowing lessons, or teaching me to style hair." she grumbled, giving the paper a glare. Noah let out a short burst of laughter.

Before she could laugh herself, a loud siren sounded throughout the building. Noah sighed.

"And that's our cue."

Dax woke early that morning. It was about 4 or 5 and the sun had barely risen. The Lowlander stretched and groaned. His back was so incredibly sore from sleeping on the cold, unyielding earth. He gazed about the camp; Aimee with his sleeping bag, stretched in an odd position; Beth and Jinja tangled slightly; Bren snoring; Chase spread eagle and Beyal, who was curled up in a ball, hair covering his face.

Dax slapped a hand over his face. Goddamn, what was he doing to himself? Why Beyal? Dax blamed the newcomers. If they hadn't put the idea into his mind – but why was he accepting the idea? He looked at Beyal again and sighed. Maybe he really did need some sleep...

But Dax knew he wouldn't be able to sleep on the ground again. His back and neck were aching so badly, and he was rather cold. He tried to stretch, and only ended up pulling a muscle. Dax cursed loudly, then slapped a hand over his mouth. Nobody stirred, except -

"Dax?" Beyal sat up and whispered blearily, looking about ready to fall asleep again. He gave the Lowlander a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

Dax sighed. "Yeah monkfish, I'm right." he forced a smile. " Just a little sore."

Beyal sat up fully. "You shouldn't of slept on the ground." he said sadly.

Dax shrugged. "Nowhere else to sleep." he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Beyal eyed him.

"You could have slept with me." he said finally. Dax flushed but shook his head. "It's okay, monkfish, it wasn't so bad - "

"Dax, come here." the white haired monk ordered. Dax opened his mouth to protest when the monk actually reached over and pulled him towards him. The Lowlander was shocked; where was the monk hiding that strength? Beyal shifted over and made Dax slide into the sleeping bag with him. There was a deep blush on the Lowlanders face, but Beyal either didn't seem to notice or care. He just nuzzled up to him and smiled, falling asleep again.

Dax wasn't sure what to think. One side of him was happy, comfortable and warm, and contented to stay, while the other was telling to resist the urge to give into this new feeling, telling himself that it wouldn't last. It would disappear, just like everything else...

He hesitated, about to slide out, when he glanced at Beyal again. He looked so peaceful and happy...Dax knew, then, that he couldn't leave. He groaned slightly but closed his eyes, sleep following not long after.

Jinja was the first to rise. Yawning, she untangled herself from Beth, who didn't even stir. She actually didn't look like she was alive, and Jinja would have panicked if she hadn't noticed the fact that she was breathing. It was odd, having the two new travelers, but Jinja was used to them by now. It was actually nice to have more females on the team – she did love the boys (well, maybe except for Dax), but it was nice to have a females input.

Sliding out of the sleeping bag, she did a head count. Yep, Bren snoring away; Chase clutching the ground; Beth a log in a sleeping bag; Aimee looking like she'd broken her arm and leg and -

Jinja's jaw hit the ground. Dax and Beyal. In the same sleeping bag. If that wasn't weird, it seemed like Beyal was willingly _nuzzling up to him_. The red head clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling and snatched the Core-Tablet. She had to get a picture or nobody would believe her!

The satisfying click of the camera on the tablet made her day. Her timing was brilliant, as Dax began to stir. She slowly slid the Tablet back into it's case and pretended to just notice him.

"Oh Dax, you're awake!" she said cheerfully, allowing a smirk to settle onto her face. Dax gave her a suspicious look.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked quietly. Jinja's smirk grew wider.

"Comfy, are you?" she snickered. Dax flushed and didn't look her in the eye.

"Buzz off, he offered, and the ground isn't very nice." he huffed.

"Sure, Dax." she drawled. "I totally believe you." she began to kick the others awake. "Now get your boyfriend up so we can get going."

"Do they even have good breakfast here?" Brooke asked curiously. "Not just cold porridge with bits of unknown substances in it?"

Noah laughed. "You usually have to earn a good meal, and we should get a good one today, but yeah, we get decently fed." he grinned. "They wouldn't keep us alive on just cockroaches, y'know."

Brooke sighed in relief as they finally made is to the mess hall. It was very plain, with metal walls, a large dome ceiling and four long Formica topped tables and benches. It seemed like what the Great Hall in Harry Potter would look like in modern life under budget. And with an added cafeteria, so an Americanized Hogwarts. The teen raised an eyebrow.

"Not what you expected, huh?" Noah chuckled, leading her to the cafeteria. There were people already seated at the tables; some were inhaling their food, others talking to mates. No one seemed to notice there was a female in their midst,

"It's pretty cool." she admitted, following him like a lamb to a surprisingly small line. "Seems a lot like high school on TV...but not." she looked around again. "Did everyone else not her the siren or...?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "Nah, they're just too lazy to get up. They miss out on the good food." his grin got wider. "And there is _good food_..."

Brooke's eyes widened. Damn, that was a heckload of food. They did have to feed a crapload of people...but _damn_! An old, plump looking woman gazed emotionlessly at them over the counter.

"Names." she droned.

Noah answered before she even could. "Noah Willowheld, Brooke Martinez." The dark haired teen gave him a curious look, but that didn't last long as she was handed a plate, with _food on it_. She didn't realize how ravenous she was until she saw the food. She hadn't eaten at all yesterday, and with all the drama she forgot she had a stomach,

"Scrambled egg has never looked so good." she breathed as Noah dragged her down to the end of a table, right near a door. The plate only had 2 strips of bacon, a scoop of scrambled egg and a bit of slightly stale toast, but at that moment it was as if she had a whole banquet to herself. Noah began to laugh as she shoveled down food. He'd always thought girls were obsessed with manners and not making a fool of themselves in public, but here it obviously wasn't the case.

"Whoa, slow down!" he advised with a snicker as she cleared her plate. "You'll get sick." Brooke stared blankly at him.

"What is this 'slow down' you speak of?" she said, swiping her mouth clean with a sleeve. Noah shook his head and began to eat at a more dignified pace. "Hey, I haven't eaten in a day, what'd you expect?" she mumbled, stretching. "So what to we have first up, Mr Manners?"

Noah scoffed. "Mr. Manners..." he checked his own timetable. It reminded Brooke so much of high school that she laughed. "We have basic Monsuno combat first...then basic Flight - "

"With the hoppers?" she sat up eagerly. Noah shook his head sadly,

"Not yet...we still have a while to go – um, basic Combat, basic Artillery...then break." he finished. Brooke sat their, wide-eyed. This sounded way better than Maths! Noah caught her expression and grimaced.

"Don't get too excited," he warned, but Brooke clapped a hand over him mouth.

"Don't burst my bubble, this has made up for yesterday!" she cried. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Just letting you know it isn't as cracked up as it sounds." he shrugged. "Besides, people might not take you seriously." he said plainly. At Brooke's blank look, he added, "Cos, y'know, you're female."

Brooke groaned. "Always something to screw it over...their bloody leader is female!" she cried. "Well, at least I think she is..." she added uncertainly.

"Speak of the devil." Noah muttered as the doors opened once more to admit a rather bleary looking Charlemange.

"You'd think she'd set an example by showing up early." Brooke said darkly.

"She can't even walk without a coffee." Noah snorted, finishing his breakfast. "You got your Cores?" he asked seriously, standing up. Brooke nodded, standing up herself. She felt suddenly nervous as a few people turned to look at her. They were seeming to realize that she was female.

"Let's go then." Noah said hurriedly, grabbing her hand and pulling her along. "We don't want to be late."

Brooke laughed slightly, nervousness forgotten. "Mate, if these lot are anything to go by, we're gonna be earlier than whoever's teaching us...who is that, by the way?"

Noah pursed his lips. "Trey." he said shortly.

"Ah." Brooke said, nodding. Then shuddered. "He's a creep. And not a good one."

"It's too cold!" Bren shivered. It wasn't snowing, but there was a certain chill in the air. There was frost on the grass and their breath rose in mist. It was pretty warm for the start of February, but Bren just wanted a reason to break the tense silence. No one was talking much. Dax wouldn't look Jinja in the eye for some odd reason, and both kept flicking their gaze to Beyal, who was trying not to notice. Chase was giving worried looks to Aimee and Beth, who hadn't spoken much that morning.

"We get it Bren." Jinja huffed irritably. Bren pulled a face and sighed. No one except Beyal was feeling very nice this morning, and Beyal rarely spoke, so there was nothing but silence.

"B, could you tell us how much further to the next location?" Chase called over his shoulder. Bren nodded happily, glad to have something to do, and tapped his finger across the Core-Tablet.

"About 3 or so kilometers." he said, grimacing. Aimee groaned.

"It's so far..." she muttered. "Can't we just ride on the Monsuno things?" she asked. Dax made an impatient sound.

"We can't risk getting spotted." he muttered.

"Can't we fly?" she whispered.

"It's only three kilometers, Poofy." he snapped. Beyal frowned at him.

"Be nice, Dax," he chided. "She's a part of us now." he added, giving him a look. Dax flushed and mumbled, but said nothing more. There was silence, until -

"I'm hungry." Beth commented idly. Bren nodded, and even Beyal agreed.

Chase sighed. "We haven't got enough money." he said, folding his arms. "So if you have an idea..."

"Yep!" a note of cheer entered Beth's voice. "We slaughter the weakest and eat him." she looked at Bren, who hid behind Jinja. Jinja raised an eyebrow.

"The idea has merit." she agreed. "Chase - ?"

"No, we aren't slaughtering Bren!" he snapped, growling. Jinja put her hands up in a sign of surrender. Chase mumbled an apology and moaned. "But I could really do with food too."

"Can't we just order a pizza and knock out the delivery guy when he asks for money?" Aimee asked hopefully.

"Or sacrifice the pizza guy!" Beth added eagerly. Dax gave her a disturbed look, and soon everyone fell silent. It was a twitchy silence, and soon it was broken by Bren singing.

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends," he sang cheerfully. Chase unwillingly begun to sing with him. "Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because."

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends," soon everyone but Beyal was singing, even Dax, although he seemed to be trying to restrain himself. "Oh no..." Beyal muttered, giving Bren a hard look.

"Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because, this is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"That's enough guys!" Beyal cried, blocking his ears.

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"How do I turn you off?!" Beyal seemed irritated beyond belief, and looked as if he wanted to murder Bren. He had never heard such an irritating song!

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"Okay, okay, I get the joke!" he exclaimed.

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because," they sang louder, now singing just to purposely annoy Beyal and to distract them from their hunger. " This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"I can't believe you guys!" he shrieked, pulling his hood over his head to try and block it out.

" This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because - "

"Okay, I've had it, that's it, that's _it - _"

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"What – what is this!?" Chase was grinning like an idiot at Beyal frustration.

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because,"

"Wait, this is the last time right?" Beyal asked in despair. "This – this is it - "

"This is the song that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because - "

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Beyal screeched, finally tackling Bren and shaking him. "This. Is. Your. Fault - "

"Okay monkfish, no more," Dax chuckled, dragging him off Bren. Bren was shaking with laughter, along with everyone but Dax.

"J-just no more!" Beyal wailed. "I can still here it!" he shook himself to rid himself of the song. Everyone stood in silence, until -

"This is the song that doesn't - " Chase began, but the poor boy never had a chance.

"_No_! Nononononononono - " Beyal tackled Chase and pummeled him. "Nonononononono - "

"Uh..." Aimee said uncertainly, looking at the beat up happening right in front of her. "Shouldn't we help him?"

"Nah," Dax shrugged, grinning. "Chase brought this on himself – he should've known monkfish was vicious when it came to irritating him."

Jinja couldn't help but add, "Yeah, you hope he's vicious in other areas, hey Dax?" she leered at him, grinning as his face turned cherry red.

"You twisted little – no, that's just – why would you - ?" he stumbled over his words, whirling to face Jinja. She smirked.

"But you're thinking about it now, aren't you?" she said triumphantly, ignoring the fact that Chase was probably dead, and Bren was going next.

Before Dax could reply, Chase let out a scream. "HEEELP!" his shriek sent all the birds flying from the trees. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't pry the monk from Chase. In the end, they had to resort to more extreme methods.

Dax launched Airswitch while Jinja launched Whipper, and the combined methods of the two Monsunos' gave Chase enough time to run with his life – although Whipper and Airswitch were very nearly sent back to their Cores'.

"Christ – monkfish, you're unraveling!" Dax exclaimed as he dodged the struggling Beyal, who was being held back by Whippers tail tightened around him and Airswitch's wing/arms supporting giant lizard.

"U-unraveling?" Chase whimpered. "More like psychotic!"

"If you hadn't of started singing the song - " Bren began, but Beth covered his mouth with a hand.

"You don't want to go there." she warned as Beyal finally began to calm down.

"There we go," Dax breathed in relief, looking at Airswitch's health. "Man, if we could get you to do that every time soldier lade attacked we'd wouldn't need Monsuno's." Airswich screeched angrily, and Dax hastily added," Not that I would ever give you up willingly, buddy!"

"Same here." Jinja added, patting Whipper. Whipper was panting, her eyes closed in exhaution. "Return!"

"Return," Dax said, and as Airswitch turned back into essence, Dax turned to Beyal, a wry smile on his face. "So your not gonna freak out again?"

Beyal's face burned and he turned to Chase apologetically. "I'm sorry, Chase."

"Sorry?" Chase cried. "You tried to kill me!"

Beyal's eyes widened. 'Oh no, I did not wish to kill, never kill. I only meant to harm or seriously injure you." Beyal's innocence while saying this caused everyone but Chase to laugh, although Chase did have a rueful smile on his face.

"I guess I did deserve that." he said sheepishly. Bren snorted.

"No kidding – what?" Bren asked, puzzled, as everyone glared at him.

"You started it.' Aimee huffed. "Beyal should've beaten you up."

Beyal grinned. "I still could!" he said happily, causing Dax to laugh.

"You sound so eager," he said, shaking his head. "So are we really going to slaughter Glasses for food?"

"That has never sounded better." Chase grinned evilly as everyone began to advance on Bren. Bren swallowed, but he never even got to scream.

Bren was very lucky that, at that moment, something large, heavy and ferocious fell from the skies. Everyone froze. A giant alligator, covered in bright spots and stripes, glared up at them. And boy, it didn't look happy.

"My best guess is too run?" Bren whispered, petrified.

"That's the best thing you've said all day! _Run!_" Aimee cried, and they all high tailed it, running faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. Alligators continued to fall from the skies, almost crushing Core-Tech as they ran.

"W-what's going on?" Jinja panted as she leapt over a particularly stripey alligator.

"Search me!" Chase exclaimed as an orange alligator snapped at his feet.

"Y-you don't think it's the paintbrush, do you?" Beyal managed to say, even though he looked exhausted. Apparently beating the crap out of Chase had finally begun to take a toll on him as he swayed dangerously. Dax caught his arm and dragged him along.

"Maybe...what else could cause bloody alligators to fall from the sky?" Dax asked sardonically, managing to pull Beyal out of the way of a rather vicious looking alligator.

"Less talk, more run!" Bren wheezed, accidentally tripping over his own shoe. He tried to scramble upward, the sharp teeth only a hairsbreadth away -

"NO! BAD ALLIGATOR!" Jinja shrieked at it. The alligator stopped and seemed to whine, looking up at her with pitiful blue eyes. "That's right, eating people is bad!" she scolded. The gator, which was in shades of sunset colours, cowered. The others stood in shock as the other gators paused to stare fearfully at Jinja.

After a few moments, all the alligators fled – except for the sunset one. It sat tamely at Jinja's side. More silence. Then -

"Well I'll be damned." Beyal whispered, before swaying dangerously again. Dax caught him before he could fall, and gave Chase a serious look.

"We need to get to the nearest town, now." he said flatly. Chase nodded, already bringing out Evo.

"We – we fly?" Aimee said hopefully. Chase grinned at her, causing her to flush.

"Yep. Time to leave the ti-dyed swamp." he said cheerfully.

"Alright, listen up!" Trey yelled. Brooke's eyes snapped to the black haired man in front of them. All the trainees were lined up against the wall, and Trey walked along the line. Everyone was standing straight and fidgeting nervously. Noah had a calm, serious look on his face. Brooke just stood there, slouched into an uninterested position, watching idly as Trey inspected them.

"Wilson, stop fidgeting, what are you, a school girl? - Thomas, fix up your shirt – Willowheld, nice posture - " Noah 's eyes shone with pride " - and – Martinez, are you even paying attention? Stand straight!" Trey ordered. Brooke raised an eyebrow.

"Say please and I'll consider it." she said coolly. Trey gave her a condescending look.

"Think your smart, do you?" he growled.

Brooke shrugged. She wasn't usually this rude – but Trey just creeped her out, and she had a bruise on her arm from when he dragged her after Charlemange.

"I guess. I did fail Math's once, but everything else was fine." she said boredly. Noah gave her a sharp look, but she gazed Trey in the eyes challengingly. He gazed back, and a slow smile spread across his face.

"And THAT, men, is a backbone!" Trey yelled. Everyone, including Brooke, stared in shock. What was this black magic?! He was supposed to rage and shout and be rude, not tell her she was a good example in front of people who had more experience! As Trey continued to go on, she mentally wondered if it was going to be like this every lesson.

It was going to be an interesting few weeks.


	5. Because Alligator Hybrids Do Care

New World Chapter 5

Core-Tech was feeling rather lucky today. Aimee and Beth had discovered when checking their pockets to find their iPod's (Bren looked over them eagerly), and found that they had quiet a bit of money. As in, 4 fifty dollar notes each.

"Holy shit, where'd this come from?" Aimee cried, looking at the money in shock.

"Maybe it was magicked with us." Beth mused. "Brooke always did have back up plans – she probably gave us each money when we appeared here, just in case."

"She was rather paranoid." Aimee agreed. Beth and Aimee had gotten over the fact that Brooke had basically betrayed them and tried to kill them. Really, it was something she'd do. She had threatened to do so on several occasions in their world as well.

"Good." Bren said happily. "We could afford a night in a hotel and still have money to spare!"

Core-Tech looked happy about this. They really did need an actual bed to sleep in and a place to wash up, not to mention that Beyal was practically dead on his feet.

"Well then, let's find the nearest hotel!" Jinja cried, taking lead. Everyone ran eagerly after her, except for Dax and Beyal. Beyal was clutching at his side, looking like he was in pain. Dax frowned and lightly touched his arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worried lacing his tone. "You want me to carry you?"

Beyal shook his head. 'N-no, it's fine, I can – I can..." Beyal's voice began to fade as he fell forward. Dax caught him – this was the third time since the alligator incident – and Dax was starting to panic. Although not as much as the townspeople, who had just seemed to notice the ti-dyed alligator following Jinja eagerly.

"Here - " Dax muttered, swinging Beyal up into his arms. Beyal clutched onto him as Dax led them to the others, who were well ahead. "You'll be fine, monkfish." he whispered warmly. "I promise."

Brooke groaned, head slumping onto the desk in front of her. Noah was right; it really wasn't rainbows and butterflies. There was actual _theory_ work involved. She was sitting at a table at the back of a large library, while Noah was searching for books on how hoppers work or something like that.

"...and this pile here is for you, if we read fast we might finish half of it by about noon." Noah's voice was almost drowned out by a large thump of books. Brooke lifted her head up and realized that the pile of about 15 a thousand paged books was for her. She gaped at him.

"Okay, I understand you wanna do a good job on this," she said slowly," but is this," she motioned towards the books, "really all that necessary?"

Noah gave her a half crazed look. "Of course it is! What we do here defines our future, the rest of our lives, life or death - " Noah's rambling was cut short by Brooke's snort of derision.

"Mate," she said dryly. "We're training to be agents in a military base working with hardcore monsters, not trying to pass public school." she slumped into her chair and groaned. "And public schools are bad enough."

Noah slumped into a chair, defeated. "Well, what are we supposed to do?" he said quietly, giving her a look. Brooke shrugged.

"Learn by experience, of course. You can't learn everything from books."

"But if we learn how it works, it may make it easier to - "

"Yeah yeah, we'll know how to work it and probably pass Flight 101, but really, is it worth it?" Brooke said, glaring at the pile of books in front of her. "I mean, really, they're cramming out heads without even spacing it out a little, don't we get anything practical done here? I swear, Trey may be a creep, but he's a creep who knows how to teach."

Noah nodded reluctantly. "I guess." he sighed dramatically. "But I did nicely get these books out. So maybe if you would - "

"Oh no, don't even - "

"Put them back for me?" Noah smirked. Brooke groaned.

"Let's just read them for now, find some useful information." she said hastily, grabbing the nearest book. Noah smirked and sighed happily. Yep, only known her for a day and he already knew how to get her to do something she was too lazy to do.

He laughed and settled into a nice book.

"HARGRAVE!" a deep voice echoed off stone walls as a bulky, bald man paced a hole in the ground. He looked half mad, and there were bloodied, wild looking animals in cages all around him.

"Yes, sir?" a slick voice inquired coolly. A grey haired man walked into the room, long robotic arms clicking. The bald man turned to him angrily.

"Where have you been, man?" he demanded. "I have an important project in motion, I can't have you sitting around like an old woman, twiddling your thumbs!" The man sighed and massaged his temples. "How is the test subject going?" he growled. Hargrave seemed happy to reply.

"Splendidly sir! His most recent tests have shown a large increase in strength and intelligence! Normal Monsuno's aren't standing a chance, sir!" the gray haired man clapped his hands together with a satisfied smile. "And he is lasting much longer outside of containment."

"Good, good." the bald man, said, distracted. "Yes, you may go now, Hargrave."

Hargrave bowed lowly. "Yes Master Klipse, sir." he drawled. If Klipse would have looked closer, he would have noticed the cunning smirk on his servants face. But Klipse didn't really care to look closer, much more content to have his shiny head stuck up is ass. But Hargrave was, perhaps not more intelligent, but more logical and certainly much more sane.

As Hargrave left, he didn't take the path to his own quarters, no. He took a path leading much deeper into their abode.

Yes, he had his own experiment to check.

Jinja sighed in contentment. She was clean, smelling fresh, clothes didn't have a mark and she was lying on a sofa. She hadn't been this comfortable in ages. Bren was sprawled in front of the TV, while Beth was in the kitchen, eating. Chase and Aimee had gone to fetch supplies, while Dax was in the bedroom with Beyal, watching to see if his condition worsened.

Jinja frowned. Beyal had been fine until after he when wacko on Chase. Jinja guessed the monk wasn't used to doing that, but she swore something else was going on. And what was up with Dax? He seemed to becoming highly attached to Beyal recently, to the point where if Beyal asked him to jump, he'd ask how high and off what cliff.

It just didn't add up.

Meanwhile, Dax was watching over a feverish Beyal. He hadn't woken up since he had passed out, and that was yesterday. His temperature was getting higher and he was twitching and shivering. Dax didn't know what to do. All he remembered was the monks sudden exhaustiveness and they way he clutched his stomach -

Dax's eyes widened. He cautiously leaned over to pull back the monks shirt (feeling rather weird as he did so), his cloak having been discarded onto a chair. The Lowlander stiffened. The cut was a vivid, sickly blue, and had spread right across the monks stomach and chest.

"Jinja, Glasses! Get in here!" Dax cried out the door. There was a muffled thump, a few cracks and a wide eyed Bren and irritated Jinja were n the room.

"Dax you'll wake him - " Jinja froze as she saw the reason for Dax's panic. Jinja's new alligator – promptly named Sunset – waddled into the room, called by his owners distress. He had the Core-Tablet on his back. "Bren, get the – oh, you have it Sunset." Jinja said, snatching the tablet and handing it to Bren. Bren didn't need to be told to do a scan.

"Uh, this isn't good." Bren grimaced. "The energy from Oreo is reacting badly with the energy from Gryff – the energies are fighting."

"So how do we stop it!?" Dax exclaimed, shooting up and wringing his hands. Jinja had never seen him look so panicky. It made her begin to freak out too. Bren sighed.

"We don't do anything." he said glumly. "It won't kill him - " he added hastily, as Dax had looked about ready to have a panic attack, " - but the monkfish is in for a hell of a night."

The paintbrush didn't like captivity. Not one bit. It didn't like being surrounded by an electrical sphere. It wanted to be free. The paintbrush was unable to use any of it's power. It was building up inside it, spazzing out.

A small crack appeared up the edge of the paintbrush.

Beyal was twitching feverishly. He was pale and cold to the touch, and for all who were to look, he seemed dead. His head pounded, his stomach burned and he felt like his world was being shaken. He felt the Monsuno energy fighting as if Gryff and Oreo were fighting on top of him, and it was painful even to move.

Dax didn't know what to do. He felt so _useless_, just sitting there watching Beyal suffer. There had to be something, _anything_, he could do help him. The Lowlander flinched as Beyal cried out in his sleep. Bren told him it was useless to stay – there was nothing he could do. But try as he might, Dax knew he couldn't leave. He couldn't remember the last time he ate something, and his stomach sounded like a dying whale, but he really didn't care.

Jinja's alligator rested next to him. It's form deemed to be changing shape by the minute. It was still scaly, sunset coloured and looked very much like an alligator, but it's body seemed to be gaining a wolfish shape. It's legs were lengthening and it's looked rather spindly.

Dax absentmindedly scratched the scales on it's head, causing it to loll it's tongue out in pleasure.

"Well, at least someone's happy." the Lowlander murmured ruefully. Beyal stirred restlessly and sat up bleakly. Dax's eyes widened.

"Monkfish?" Dax breathed. "How are you feeling?"

Beyal looked at him with painful eyes, hardly aware of the world around him. "Dax." he mumbled. Dax leaned over and slung and arm around his shoulders. To his surprise, Beyal wrapped his arms around him and clutched on tightly. "Don't go." he whispered.

"I won't." Dax whispered, giving the monk support. Beyal had fallen back asleep, but his vice-like grip didn't waver, and although he still looked half dead, didn't shiver or twitch as much, and his breathing was even.

Looks like Dax had found a way to help after all.

Aimee trudged after Chase, who was rattling off things they needed.

"...we have food, of course," he said, eyes glued to the list, "But you two need sleeping bags, and a knapsack for yourself."

"Knapsack?" Aimee said blankly. Chase gave her a surprised look.

"Knapsack? Bag?" he said hesitantly. Aimee's expression cleared.

"Ah, okay, we don't call them that in Australia." she shrugged. Chase gave her an interested look.

"You lived in Australia? Cool!" his tone was eager. "What's it like?"

"Boiling in summer, okay-ish in winter," she shrugged again. "Um, green, dangerous, last time I was there one half was flooding and the other on fire."

Chase winced. Aimee nodded ruefully. "Australia for you. What else do we need?"

Before Chase could reply, he suddenly tripped and fell. "Oof!" Aimee snickered and picked up what he had tripped on. Her eyes widened. "Chase, are Cores supposed to be multicoloured?" she asked uncertainly.

Chase hopped up and snatched the Core from her. "No! Holy crag, who would leave this lying around?" he cried.

"Um...what is it?" Aimee said, at a loss. Chase looked sheepish.

"No clue. Here," he handed it to her. Aimee took it in surprise. "We'll launch it later."

"You mean I can – I can have it?" Aimee gave Chase an odd look.

"Of course." he gave her a roguish grin. "Pretty core for a pretty girl." and then he skipped off, leaving a blushing, confused Aimee with a rainbow Core in her hand.

Sunset yawned, his large jaws opening to reveal a few rows of needle like teeth. He liked it here with his new two legged friends. When he fell from the skies, he though they were enemies, until he saw how much they protected each other. No one evil would do that, he mused. The fire-haired girl was nice but stern with him, and the scruffy one with the glasses snuck him food under the table. The short one with the plait would chuck him strange but tasty cream filled biscuits and talk to him cheerfully while she ate. He felt bad for the snow-haired one – sickness was rolling off him in waves – and the despair radiating off the tall one made him flinch.

He knew that the white hair one was a part of the despair, but Sunset believed there were other reasons as to why the tall one was upset. He could sense that he had covered up injuries and bad dreams. Sunset wished he could help the tall one, because the tall one seemed like he really needed some help. Some warmth and love.

He lazily turned his bright blue eyes onto the white haired one, then to the tall one. Maybe they needed each other? The alligator/wolf hybrid wasn't sure. He sat up and wrapped his long, spindly tail around his front paws and gave them a hard look. The tall one still had his arms around the white haired one, while the white haired one was asleep and clutching onto the tall one. The tall one seemed sad, stroking the white ones hair.

Sunset nodded. He may have to give them a nudge, and get Loua the Dreamer to visit them in their sleep, but he would make them both happy again.

Jinja jumped as the door banged open to reveal Chase and Aimee, arms laden with bags. Jinja and Beth ran over to help, while Bren lazily gazed at them.

"So, what'd you get?" he drawled, leaning upward. Aimee glared at him.

"Get off your lazy ass and check yourself." she snapped. Bren pouted and heaved himself up the couch, stretching. Chase began to unpack everything, consulting his list before putting them in a specific pile. Jinja raised an eyebrow.

"And how are we going to pack all this?" she asked skeptically. Chase barely looked at her.

"Well, we have two new members, which means - " he pulled out a purple bag and a blue one. " - that we have room for a bit more. And - " he indicated Beth and Bren. " - we now have two huge eaters, instead of one."

Jinja nodded thoughtfully. "True...which reminds me, we have to drag Dax out here to eat." she muttered Chase frowned.

"He _still _hasn't left the room?" he said, a little concerned. Beth nodded grimly and Bren shrugged and grabbed an apple.

"Dax has been acting weird lately, especially when it comes to Beyal." he said, taking a large bite into the apple. Jinja couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he didn't send juice flying everywhere when he ate it, unlike herself.

Chase walked over to Beyal's dubbed room and peeked in. His eyes widened slightly and he hurriedly motioned the others over. They looked curiously at each other and crept over. Peeking into the room, everyones jaw dropped.

"Awww..." Jinja had a large grin on her face. Dax had fallen asleep with Beyal still clutching onto him. Dax himself had arms arms wrapped protectively around the monk, his chin resting on Beyal's head. Sunset was curled up at Dax's feet, asleep. In all, it was an adorable sight.

Chase shook his head in amazement. "You were right, B." he laughed quietly. Beth and Aimee nodded vigorously and Jinja gave his a congratulatory pat on the back.

Bren had a smug grin on his face. "I know."

Jeredy rubbed a hand over his face exhaustedly. It was times like this he wished he could grab a cup of coffee without having to get away with his life. He continued to tamper away a a small vat of Monsuno essence.

"Hey Jay!" Jeredy almost spilled the essence.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Jeredy snapped. "This is important work!"

The man behind him shrugged. He was wearing a dark tan cloak, that almost matched his skin. He looked about seventeen or eighteen. "My little cousin's important too, but I still can't go see him, can I? And neither can Auntie."

Jeredy sighed and turned to face him. "It's not safe yet. As soon as they enter the city, you can see him. But you can't talk to him, and you can't let on who you are, remember that Ren."

Ren immediately huffed and folded his arms. "I prefer 'Viper', remember? Vipe-er."

"Your name is Ren and I shall call you Ren." Jeredy turned back to his work. He heard Ren groan and slump into a chair.

"But I miss him Jeredy." he said miserably. "He was the best little cousin ever, until..." Ren shivered and clutched his head. Jeredy winced.

"I know, but it's dangerous for him and you. If the Bookman ever realized that there were survivors, it could be worse." A beeping on the monitor sent there heads snapping up. A slight grin slowly spread across Ren's face.

"They're in the city..." he breathed. He squinted at the mini map. "And in a hotel, by the looks of it." he gave Jeredy a hopeful look, grey eyes sparkling.

Jeredy rolled his eyes, begging any God that could hear for a coffee. 'Yes, you can go, but - "

But Ren had already left.


	6. Charley Won't Be Happy

**New World**

**Chapter 6**

**DISCLAIMER – I do not own Monsuno! If I did, Beyal would be kick ass, Dax would be more shy, and Beyal and Dax would be together! And Season 2 would be out by now, and there would be more Seasons, and with the paintbrush I would make people love Monsuno, and there would be more fanfics and fanart...*sigh* So amazing.**

**WARNING: Will contain OOCness, and fluffy slash. The only way this story could boot itself up to M rated was if I cursed badly all the time or if I added heavy gore, which shall not happen. No heavy sexual themes, but I do love a good innuendo XD Craziness, sacrificing to the Oreo god, ti dyed alligators, songs that don't end and cutesy fluff will happen, and may cause the sky to fall. Please keep umbrellas on you at all times. Also, there will be plot holes. Maybe. I have no clue, I'm not keeping count. If you guys have any ideas or something you'd like to see happen, review and I may just add it in. ;) Also, I don't own Harry Potter, HTTYD or did not mean to offend any Beiber fans or anyone else. This is purely to entertain you and let me exercise my imagination.**

**To Kryst – Minah is actually Beyal's YOUNGER sister. :3 I often draw her looking older, but she's about 10 while he's 15. X3 **

**Please check out my poll!**

**I adopted Alexei Valence from ArgentinaV! Thanks! XD And thanks to Xyphez for the awesome scarf! And also, happy belated birthday ArgentinaV! Let's all give cookies to them!**

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Argh!" Brooke yelled, throwing the papers onto the bed in front of her. Noah raised an eyebrow from where he was lying on the floor, blankets and pillows strewn under him. "This is a TERRIBLE plan!" she cried.

"This was _your_ plan." he said dryly.

"And it's terrible!" she groaned.

"That's what Valence said, why didn't you listen to him?" Noah asked idly, flipping through his notes on proper combat. The dark haired girl huffed at him.

"Who's side are you on?" she muttered sourly. "Besides, since when did I ever listen to the teachers? I - "

Her voice was cut out by a sudden wailing of an alarm. Brooke and Noah were immediately on their feet, Cores' in hand, faces serious as the iron door flew open to reveal a grim looking Trey.

"You two, you're coming with me." he barked, waving them along. Brooke hastily snatched her other two Cores' and ran after him, Noah just in front. All the elites were crowding the halls, yelling to others and unclipping their Monsunos', looking grave. She'd never seen such a scene in her brief few days at STORM. It kind of scared her.

"What's going on?!" she called to Trey, realizing he was leading them in the opposite direction

Trey didn't slow his pace. "We're being attacked by an unknown personnel. So far, twenty four Monsuno's attacking, but there are more arriving. Their Core's are green." Brooke almost froze. Hadn't she created a green group back in her universe? She tried to remember details.

"If they are who I think they are," she panted. "Then their Monsuno's should be twice the strength of ours, but only last half the time." Damn, she hated running.

Trey gave her a sharp look, but said nothing. Noah look shocked, and a little uneasy. "So where are you taking us?"

Trey slowed as they arrived in the hopper station. "I have orders from Commandant-Marshal Charlemange to take you and your friend to a safe location. You're our most valuable so far, and you're needed to STORM more than you know." he said gruffly, looking bitter. Brooke stood, shell-shocked, along with Noah.

"So, we're leaving everyone else here to die?" she squeaked. This was wrong! So wrong!

"No!" Noah cried, shaking his head. Trey sighed.

"I don't agree either. I'd rather stay and die fighting rather than running and leaving comrades to die, but I have orders." he said gravely, pulling the door to a hopper open. "Get in."

But Noah and Brooke stood there, looking lost. "But we can't leave them all to die." she whispered. Noah nodded.

"Can't we attack from above? Take out as many as we can?" Noah sounded so fierce that Brooke shivered slightly. Trey pursed his lips.

"Commandant-Marshal Charlemange - "

" - can kiss my ass." Noah snorted, grabbing his Monsuno. "We're helping."

Trey glared at him a few moments, but Noah stood with his head held high. Trey groaned and chucked Noah a Core from his belt. "Her name is Kaleidoscope. Take them out from above, and if the Commandant asks, you ran and disobeyed."

"Deal." Brooke muttered, dazed. Noah had definitely been hanging around her for too long.

"This is awesome!" Noah cried in ecstasy, throwing his arms in the air as Kaleidoscope, a great smooth-skinned bird with crystalline wings the colour of a million rainbows swooped downwards, heading towards the battle. Kaleidoscope gave a trill of joy.

"Welcome to the club!" Brooke laughed slightly, giving Noah an odd look that the sandy-haired boy didn't notice.

"The annoying pest club?"

"No stupid, the flying club!" Brooke huffed. Gryff shimmied oddly and then did a sudden loop that nearly made the Aussie girl lose her grip. "Gryff!" she shrieked. Gryff ignored her, looking at Kaleidoscope from the corner of his eye before showing off again.

"Stupid lovesick turkey, save it for Valentines Day!" she cried, when a sudden shock of green light, grazed by her. She cursed as Noah flew up beside her.

"Are you okay?" he said frantically, checking her for any injuries.

She barely got to respond as another light came from below, coming from a large Scorpion like Monsuno. She swallowed. It was time for the first real fight of her life. And if she were to be honest – she was freaking terrified! But she wasn't going to be honest, because she preferred to be a dishonest person. You could always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest.

"Lets go!" she cried. Gryff suddenly dived very quickly and suddenly. A high keening noise filled the air, much like the sound of Toothless from How Tor Train Your Dragon attacking. Gryff sucked in the air, creating a bright energy ball in his mouth as he dropped. She could see Noah swooping in and blinding Monsuno's ask quick as possible.

She barely noticed Gryff had shot until the sound of it was ringing in her ears.

This was going to be a long battle.

Beyal moaned in slight pain. The burning in his torso had dulled to a slight ache, but his head still felt like it had been trampled by a gazillion llamas. He felt warm though, and he nuzzled back into where he was before. It was only a few moments later, though, that Beyal realized that he smelt cinnamon. Cinnamon was usually the scent that accompanied Dax.

Tilting his head upwards slowly, half in pain and half in nervousness, he saw the red and blue of Dax's shirt and jacket, and felt the Lowlanders strong arms around him. Beyal flushed furiously, but made no attempt to move. He was already comfortable and warm, and felt safe. The thought of leaving this spot made him sick to the core.

_Well_, he thought hesitantly. _It couldn't hurt..._Beyal snuggled back into Dax and breathed in the faint smell of spice that always lingered with him, smiling slightly.

He could get used to this...

Aimee gazed at the rainbow Core in her hands, still shocked that Chase gave it to her. She really didn't know much about this universe, unlike Brooke and Beth. She had really no clue what Monsuno's were, and how they got here. It was like going to a new school...except she had almost died several times.

She was standing in a clearing, unsure whether to launch it. She shrugged and pulled back her arm

"_Launch!_"

The Core flew towards the tree, a bright rainbow beam following in it's wake. The Core clinked against the tree, very quiet for how fast it was going, and technicoloured essence burst from the lid. Actually, Aimee wasn't sure exactly WHERE the essence escaped from. It seemed pretty solid and unopenable last time she checked. The caught the Core and slowly turned towards the solidifying essence.

It looked like a giant...unicorn. Cross tiger, judging by the back paws and stripes. But most amazing of all was that while the Monsuno was white, the stripes and markings being extremely bright and colourful. And instead of the pinprick of glow from the eyes being a solid colour, it was fading throughout the entire colour spectrum! Aimee squealed and hugged it. The Unitiger squirmed a little, but remained still, not quite sure of it's new Controller.

Aimee finally released the Monsuno, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I shall name you Rainbow!" She cried. "And you shall be mine, and you shall be my Rainbow!" The Unitiger gave a cross between a whinny and a purr, and Aimee grinned. "Now I just need a Squishy..."

The paintbrush was feeling so pent up! It could feel the panic around it but couldn't escape! The crack in it's side began to glow as the magic overwhelmed the paintbrush, and it, having no clue what to do, began to repeat it's previous actions...

"HOOOOLLLYYYY CRAAAAP!" A panicked shriek screamed as two people appeared to a bright flash of red and yellow light. The two thumped into the middle of the hotel. Jinja shot up and Chase pulled out his Core.

"Wait!" Beth yelled. "Nat?! Zoe?"

"Whoa." a sandy haired guy sat up, looking a bit freaked out. "Can I do that again?"

"No! Just NO!" A short, chubby, blond haired girl yelled. "What did you DO Steve?"

The boy, whose name was either Zoe or Steve, raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't do it...I wish I could!" He suddenly grinned like a Cheshire Cat, scaring Chase and Jinja. Bren popped his head in the room.

"There's MORE of them?" he cried, looking at Steve and Nat. Aimee had just trudged through the door at that moment. She had barely taken one look at Steve before she screamed.

"_WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?_" She backed against the wall.

"YETI!" Steve yelled, pointing at her and shooting up to tackle her as Aimee screamed again.

"NAT! BETH!"

"WHY ARE WE YELLING?" Came a voice from the other end of the room. A groggy looking Beyal glared at them, with a slightly red-faced Dax behind him. "I was _sleeping_! _**Sleeping!**_"

"And we have two more travelers!" Chase groaned. "Great, and just when I was organized... "

Steve, meanwhile, was trying to kill Aimee, who was still screaming like a banshee. "Get the yeti!" Steve was yelling.

"And I thought Brooke was bad..." Beyal sighed and trudged back into his batcave – ahem, _room_ – grabbing Dax's arm. Dax yelped as he was dragged along by the surprisingly strong monk, but made no move to struggle as Beyal dragged him back to use him as teddy bear.

Everyone was quiet – save for Steve's yelling and Aimee's screams – and it was a bit later when Beth asked, "Is anyone hungry?"

Not to far away, just behind a large group of green Core wielding rebels, a black light flashed and a tall, lanky, freckled girl fell just behind them, landing heavily on her Cores.

"Owww...bitch." she muttered, glaring at the green Cores in her pocket. She wasn't too fazed – being friends with some of the people she was friends with did put a damper on the whole 'shock' factor.

It wasn't too long later when she noticed that she was just at the back of a huge battle, and there was some random creepy guy with red and yellow eyes standing over her, a dark haired guy who was a bit shorter next to him...and they really didn't look happy.

"Great," she mumbled as the red yellow weird eyed one yanked her up roughly by the arm and Trey grabed the other. "Y'know, there's a reason I have legs." the girl said slowly, as if she was talking to stupid people. "It's so I can _walk._"

"Shut up." The shorter guy said. She knew him from that cartoon Brooke was obsessed with. Commander Trey. No clue who this other guy was, though.

"Well look who's all sunshine and rainbows!" she snapped. "Go take a nap, old man."

As they continued to drag her in silence, she thought to herself, _it's days like this I wish I hadn't gotten out of bed_.

Dax really didn't know how his head dealt with the confusion of the last few days. The arrival of paintbrush wielding dimension travelers, crazy thoughts on the monkfish, the falling alligators and Beyal's Monsuno inflicted-then-healed-by-Monsuno wound and now him being used as a teddy bear by said monk...the poor Lowlander didn't know what to make of himself. He liked to think he usually had his head on straight...welp, that myth was busted.

A small blush crept up Dax's face as Beyal nuzzled into his chest, taking full advantage of the confused and pinned down Lowlander. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. But he just couldn't give in. He couldn't hurt himself again. Everyone else he had ever loved – his mother, father, younger sister – had either died, gone crazy or hated him. And then _he _came. His stupid step-father.

No, he wouldn't get hurt again, and he wouldn't let Beyal get hurt either.

Brooke didn't know how much time had elapsed since she had first started fighting, but she was well aware of the fact that Gryff was going to return soon.

"Oi Noah!" she yelled, trying to catch the attention of the sandy haired male. "Times almost up! We gotta get to the ground or we'll be some Monsuno's lunch!"

He signaled that he had heard, and they both began to dive, Gryff still shooting and Kaleidoscope flashing her colourful, blinding wings. They ducked and weaved in and out of a sea of vicious, green Monsuno's, Cores at the ready -

"NOW!" Noah's yell caused her to immediately launch the Core in her hand, the one she hadn't used yet. Somehow, she managed to jump off of Gryff and only roll twice. Lucky, because when she had rolled, a green jet of light (reminding her very much of the Killing Curse in Harry Potter) flashed over her head, and it would've probably done more than kill her. It probably would've mutilated her beyond recognition, sent her to Hell seven times, and cause Justin Beiber to clone himself.

But let's not go there.

She barely heard Noah scream "Vileblaze, launch!". All she saw was the great pale form of Goldenlight, a Monsuno she had adopted back in her world from an awesome online sister. The great, shaggy wolf bear looking cross lolled his tongue happily.

"Alright! Goldenlight – Dragon Fire!" She cried. The Monsuno glowed fiercely, and suddenly opened his mouth. Great gusts of white hot flames spewed from his mouth. The earth cracked slightly from the heat, and Brooke really wished she had a few packets of marshmallows. A little off, Vileblaze was just managing her own, while Noah had climbed on top. She really couldn't see how this could go wrong.

But then again, she should've known not to jinx herself.

She felt something slam into her, and a rushing pain flooded her body. Goldenlight roared in shock and horror and she could hear Noah's cry of "NO!"

Through the haze, she heard again someone launching...sounded so familiar...

"Driftblade, Plasma Barrage!"

And Charlemange's panicked face was the last thing she saw.


	7. Charley Really Wasn't Happy

**New World **

**Chapter 7**

**Welp. I'm writing this on the 17****th**** of February, at 5:11 PM, in my room in Australia, and I know this won't be posted for another month, unless a certain TiDye keeps NAGGING ME!**

**EDIT: I PICKED UP MY ASS AND FINISHED WRITING THIS CHAPTER HOLY SHIZ I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN AGES! ;A; OMIGAWD FORGIVE ME! I hope you enjoy this chapter though! XD**

**Disclaimer – I do not own the rights to Monsuno, but I do own the right to go curl up in my sock draw and sulk for a few days over the fact. I adopted Alexei Valence from ArgentinaV. Hugs for Alexei!**

**PLEASE READ! I know I have a poll, but I want to ask – out of these characters – Brooke, Beth, Aimee, Noah, Natalie, Steve (Zoe), Ren, or Maya (the chick who appeared at the back of the battle and landed on her cores and was captured by Trey and Alexei in the previous chapter) – who is your MOST favourite and LEAST favourite and why? And are there any parings you wanna see (that doesn't involve Beyal and Dax XD That pairing is already figured out XD)? All pairings will be taken into account, even though I may not use all suggestions. Feel free to suggest pairings for the OC's as well – be as random as you want!**

**Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are amazing! Free cookies for all!**

**Also, this story is on my deviantart account, and my Wattpad account (I'm Glowblade998 there too. Anywhere you see Glowblade998 is me! XD)**

* * *

Ren's eyes gazed at the group of teens, focusing his eyes on one white haired monk in particular. How his cousin had grown! But...his hair...white. Ren shivered at what Beyal might've seen to make his hair go _white_...

He shook his head, preferring not to remember what had happened so long ago. Focus on the present.

He turned to observe the other members of the group. Especially the new comers, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. There was a short, chubbyish blonde girl next to a girl who was a slightly taller brunette with a plait down her side. They were both roaring with laughter at a girl with poofyish hair being...well, tackled...cross being dragged...while being screamed yeti at...by a tall brown haired boy with a large Cheshire grin.

The rest of the main group was either laughing or staring. He at least knew THESE ones by name. Chase was caught between laughing and helping the poor poofy haired one out, while Bren was being berated by Jinja. He cast a concerned look at Dax, who looked lost and slightly ill, and kept looking at Beyal with a pained look on his face. Beyal himself was trying to wrestle the boy with the creepy grin off of the poofy one.

Ren sighed and rubbed his face. How he wanted to walk over...to introduce himself...to actually _talk _to his cousin – but he couldn't. He knew it was dangerous for him and Beyal if the Bookman got wind that there were survivors. He would hunt Beyal to no end...and they would try to get Auntie too...

A passer-by walked passed, and Ren was glad he had chosen to wear something that wasn't his robe. A plain red jacked, black pants, green collared shirt. And a pair of boots he'd found in an op shop. Wonderful places, those...

Ren shook his head. The team had been here for a week now, managing to find enough money to get supplies and food. But now they were checking out, on the move again, and Ren could only follow them to the edge of the city. He looked at his Core, then the one he had kept for years to give to the monk, before looking uneasily back.

He had to get the Core to Beyal.

* * *

When Brooke woke, is was to hushed voices above her. She barely remembered what had happened – had she been hit by an Bieber cloning ray or something worse? Did Charlemange really appear or did she hallucinate? And what happened to Noah?

She suddenly felt sick. Noah? Had he been hurt? Killed? Mutated? Stolen to become part of Lady Gaga's creep crew?

"Noah?" she whispered huskily. Damn, she wanted some orange juice or something. Everything went quiet above her, and she forced her eyes open, squinting against the light. "Damn, who opens the curtains in a someone's room?' she complained, and someone laughed slightly, although with a note of hysteria.

Opening her eyes fully, she noticed she was _not_ at a STORM base – it looked like someones house. She saw Noah – thank Spongebob – and Trey was there, along with -

"Ah god, why have I got a teacher at my sick bed?" she groaned to Valence. "Do you actually collect assignments from dying people?"

Valence gave her a cold look, but there was a faint twinge of amusement in his eyes. "I'm sure you're competent enough to complete assignments while sick. Aren't women good at multitasking?"

Noah gave a forced chuckle as she replied, "Mate, you're looking at the wrong woman." she paused. "Where's Charley?"

Trey gave a disapproving growl. "That's Commadant-Marshal Charlemange to you," he muttered. She rolled her eyes, and even Noah managed to huff at Trey. "And last time I saw her she was muttering about her own 'incompetency' – which is untrue, and something about a paintbrush.

Brooke immediately sat up and shrieked. "_The paintbrush_!" Noah stared in confusion as she began to hyperventilate. "Oh god oh god oh holy llama where is that paintbrush?"

"It is zafe." the thick accent came from the doorway. Charlemange looked exhausted through all that make up, and she grimaced at Brooke. "Although I cannot zay the zame for you."

"Huh?" Brooke muttered, looking down at herself. Her eyes widened in horror at all the bandages covering her torso and her left arm, and could now feel bandages even on her neck and somewhat on her face.

"W-what happened?" she cried, looking dismayed. Still glad it wasn't a Bieber cloning ray though...

Valence grimaced. "The blast did some heavy damage. You broke a few ribs, but your Monsuno managed to save you from another attack..." he gave her a hard look. "You were lucky you didn't die."

But Brooke didn't hear the last part. "You mean the first time I broke a bone and I wasn't awake to see it?" she groaned. Then she paused and grinned. "Cool – I almost died...wow, awesome!"

Noah shook. "It wasn't _cool_!" he cried. "You – you could've died..._how is that cool_?" he shrieked, waving his arms around. She shrugged and gave him a guilty look.

"Well...how often can a person say they've almost died?" She asked sheepishly. Trey gave a short burst of laughter, and Valence and Charlemange shot him a disapproving glare. Then she turned to Brooke – and boy did she look pissed.

"You deliberately disobeyed me." she snarled, and Brooke flinched slightly and looked away. "You could have killed yourself – you almost did - "

"I'd rather that than willingly leaving everyone else to die!" Brooke snapped.

"Zey are experienced - "

"That's not the point! You can't favour one over the other!"

"Zat is enough!' Charlemange roared, and Brooke immediately fell silent. "You - you - " the blonde struggled to come up with words. "You are _grounded_."

Pause. Then -

"You can't ground me! _There will be consequences_!" Brooke yelled. Noah snickered, and Trey and Valence shot smirks at each other.

"I'll take my chances." Charlemange folded her arms. "Anyone in STORM under ze age of sixteen is a minor and fall under my guardianship."

Brooke sat there, cogs in her brain working. "You didn't bother to say anything? If I'dve known that..." the dark haired Aussie girl fumed. She whipped towards Noah. "What about you?"

"I have cleaning duty." he chuckled. At Brooke's glare, he raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, I accepted my punishment."

"What happened to _Charlemange can kiss my ass_?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as Noah paled and Charlemange gave him a glare.

"Vhat is zis? Ven did you zay zat!?"

Noah really had a bit of explaining to do.

* * *

"STEVE! GET LOST!" Aimee shrieked. Steve huffed and folded his arms.

"Who is this _Steve_?" he asked innocently. "I'm Zoe."

"Zoe Alexandra the 17th...point 2 something." Beth added. Steve nodded happily and went back to annoying Aimee.

"Jinjaaaa...?" Aimee gave Jinja a pleading look. Jinja rolled her eyes but grinned and pulled Steve away, tying a leash around him and pulling him along. Beside her, Sunset the allidog yapped happily, trotting along with his tongue lolling out and bumping into Dax.

Natalie laughed at Steve. "Why couldn't we do this back in our world?"

Aimee shrugged, looking pleased. "None of us had any rope."

Natalie and Steve had gotten explanation from the group as to what had happened, where they were, and what had happened so far. Steve had been more excited about the fact that he had a Monsuno above anything else.

"I wanna launch my Monsuno!" he yelled, struggling against the leash. Jinja gave it another tug and he fell over. Now being dragged, Steve attempted to throw a fit. His attempt only succeeded in tangling him in the rope.

"Well, at least we know who we're sacrificing next." Bren shrugged, giving Steve a look. Beth, Aimee and Natalie cheered happily, Chase groaned and Beyal suddenly got a mischievous gleam in his eye. Dax didn't say anything. He was just staring blankly ahead, ignoring everyone. Chase eyed the Lowlander, concerned.

Dax hadn't been the same since Beyal was ill. He seemed so distant. He didn't talk, he was pretty sure he didn't sleep much and he ate very little. It wasn't like the Lowlander to be like this at all. He had to talk to Dax, and soon.

* * *

Maya was pissed. Ever since she'd been randomly captured at the back of a battle she hadn't even been taking part in, she'd gotten treated like crap from everyone. Well, everyone was this Charlemange chick, Trey, that cute Valence guy and some sandy haired teen. Apparently there was someone else who had gotten injured, but she had no clue who that was.

She sighed. She was so _bored_. There was nothing to do. At _all_. Except sleep, which wasn't too bad, but it still _sucked_.

The door of her cell slammed open, and she growled. It was the Valence guy.

"You. Up." he ordered.

"I have a name. Say it with me. May-a. See? It's _two syllables_." she spoke to him as if she were speaking to a toddler, which he obviously didn't like too much. "Ow ow ow!" she cried as she was wrenched up. "Okay okay, I'm up! Geez."

"Move." he growled.

Maya felt she wasn't going to get a very god reception here.

* * *

Hargrave cackled, feeling triumphant. It was a success! He looked at the five teens in front of him. He had managed to replicate and clone human DNA! He had been successful in cloning those stupid Core-Tech kids...mostly, at least. He looked at the other five rejects in disgust, the ones in the cage near Jon Ace. The oddly coloured, spacey looking teens that needed to be disassembled. Hargrave smirked and gave orders to the other group. The ones who would lead him to success.

"Find Jeredy Suno!" he snapped, glaring. They all flinched, and the Bren replica whimpered. "Or else."

From the cage, the Beyal replica snarled. He looked just like Beyal – but that was it. He had black hair instead, and his bitter eyes were a deep red, his robes a deep blue. He – and the rest of the group - look like they had just walked out of Josie and the Pussycats or something along those lines.

"Bloody evil ugly git," he muttered, then glared at the Chase look alike. The Chase look-a-like was practically albino, save for the skin tone (oddly enough, it was the only thing that manage to stay right), and his jacket was gold and black. "Why don't you do something? You're the leader!"

"Yeah!" the Bren look-a-like added, looking ticked. "I kinda don't wanna be fed to a Monsuno, but that's just me." His pale blue eyes matched his hair almost exactly. The Chase look-a-like grumbled and looked away. At heart, he was seriously a coward – there was no way he was leading a group like this!

"Guuuuuyyyyysss!" the Jinja clone groaned, sighing. "Stop fightin'! Seriousleh!" Out of them all, the Jinja clone was the only one to get a weird Scottish sounding accent – nobody knew where it had come from.

"Please?" the Dax clone whispered miserably, looking out of the cage. He was probably the weirdest looking. The dark skin contrasted sharply with his white hair, then add his white and gold jacket, green and gold shirt and even a gold beanie...well, he looked rather odd, lets just say that. He was probably the shyest of them all, and didn't meet any of their eyes.

"We have to break out!" The Beyal clone jumped up, glad of the fact that he was small and wouldn't hit his head on the cage. "We don't wanna die, do we?" he said, looking at the others. "And to hell if I'm going to be called Thing 4 for the rest of my life!" he added firmly. Then he suddenly began to kick at the lock.

"What are you doing?" the Bren clone asked, raising an eyebrow. The Beyal clone stopped for a moment and sighed irritably.

"What does it look like! I'm breaking out!" he cried.

"It looks more like yer tryin to break yer foot, in my opinion." the Jinja clone said dryly. The Beyal clone ignored her and kept kicking. The lock didn't budge.

"Bloody – would you guys help!" the Beyal clone yelled waving his hands in the air furiously. For a moment no one moved, then the Dax clone sighed and stood up.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," he mumbled. "Much." he added with a seconds thought. The Jinja and Bren clone stood up as well, and after a few moments deliberation (and much punching and kicking), the Chase clone got up to help as well. They began to kick at the door, even going far enough to run at it. It was only after five minutes when the Bren clone was struck with a brilliant idea.

"Why don't we just all run at it together? More momentum," he suggested, silvery blue eyes gleaming. "More power, more damage."

It was hard to budge up against the far side of the cage, but it wasn't long until they were all forcefully throwing themselves at the cage door in unity. The door began to rattle on its hinges, and they were all relieved to see their hard worked (and bruised shoulders) were not going to waste.

"C'mon!" the Beyal clone yelled. "If we get out I'll get you all some of that ice cream stuff the old geezer was complaining about."

Now with a stronger incentive, the team threw themselves at the cage door – and onto the wall opposite. Slightly dazed, the group looked around, shocked. After a month of being tested on and being in a cage, they were free. The first thing the Jinja clone did was to free Jon Ace and break the controller from his back, and begin to talk to him. The poor mutated Jon Ace looked overwhelmed.

The Bren and Beyal clones went to look for Monsunos to 'kick Hargrave ass' with, while the Chase clone began to look for a map. The Dax clone was leaning against a wall, looking thoughtful.

"I think we need names," he mused, looking to the others for confirmation. The Beyal clone shot up, smacking his head on a table that he was looking under in the process.

"Brilliant!" he cried, and the Dax clone looked pleased for a moment. "Glad I thought of it!" the Dax clones face fell, and he flushed when the crimson eyed male winked at him. "Think of non-ridiculous names for yourselves while you're looking for whatever you're looking for."

"I think I'll be callin' myself 'Jinny', ay." the Jinja clone said distractedly. Chase nodded eagerly.

"And I'll call myself 'Collin!'" he said, grinning. The Bren clone rolled his eyes.

"He said 'non-ridiculous'." he drawled. The Chase clone, now dubbed Collin, growled.

"Oh yeah, you got any better?" he challenged. The Bren cloned shrugged, not at all fazed.

"I think Blaise, it sounds pretty cool." he shrugged. He turned to the Dax clone. "What about you?"

The Dax clone looked hesitant and seem to shrink slightly under the superior gaze, pale dreads hanging around his face. "I-I rather liked Deacon."

Collin snorted slightly but Jinny gave the newly dubbed Deacon an encouraging smile. The Beyal clone, who was still looking around for Monsuno's, huffed.

"My name shall be Shane..." he paused slightly, the glared at the others. "And Shane says to look for some bloody Monsuno's!"

* * *

Brooke was finally allowed to leave the bed three days later – but all she was really allowed to do was walk around and talk to Lyra. Lyra, a dark haired, yellow eyed teen was a permanent resident here, and was apparently Charlemagne daughter.

That's right. Apparently, Charley had a daughter. Brooke had to sit down when she first heard, and immediately asked Charlemange if she were drunk or something – no offence to Lyra.

Lyra was really friendly, and if it weren't for her and Noah, Brooke probably would've gone insane ages ago. If she wasn't insane already. She was able to take the bandages off as well, and winced at all the scarring. Monsuno wounds healed rather quickly, apparently, but were extremely painful and like to scar heavily. Most of her left side was covered in rippling pink scars, very heavy around her torso, and even rather heavy up her neck and face. She honestly couldn't see how she had survived that.

She was also very confused with Noah. He'd been so _protective_...it was scary. If she even came close to falling over he'd be there in a second, helping her and fussing like an old goose. It was rather funny.

Charlemagne wasn't too happy with her still, and scolded her heavily – _Vhat vere you zinking? Never mind, you veren't zinking at all!_ - and stuff like that. Trey just shrugged and told her that he warned her. She hadn't seen Valence anywhere lately, but apparently the discoloured eyed male was interrogating a prisoner. She had no clue how they managed to capture one of those bastards, but she sure hoped that the were suffering.

She was now lying on the couch in a small, dog smelling but cozy lounge room, patting the head of a brown and white dog. It was only a few days ago that she realized this was Alexei's house – this made her feel a whole lot safer. The second thing she realized was that dear Alexei Valence did have a soft spot – a furry one. Walis was a rather goofy and clumsy dog, and like his owner, had mismatched eyes, although Walis's eyes were blue and orange. She found that extremely weird for a dog, but then again, she was in a universe where huge monsters came out of glue sticks, so she was relatively certain it was normal.

Walis's great pink tongue lolled out of his mouth as he rolled on his stomach. Brooke sighed and stared at the ceiling, bored. Lyra and Charlemange were discussing something, Trey was teaching Noah proper battle techniques, and Valence was -

"Hey newbie." there it was, Alexei's usual greeting. She shot out off the couch with a hopeful look in her eyes. Alexei raised an eyebrow. "A little eager, are we?"

"You haven't been lying on a couch so bored you felt like shooting yourself!" she muttered, still looking hopeful. Maybe there was something to maim, or dress up in full on Lady Gaga style, or blow up -

"I have a reason to believe that our prisoner may have come through the same way you did." he said seriously, and Brooke frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't see how..." she said, thinking hard. Charlemange had the paintbrush, she knew that, but why would she call someone else through. Alexei grimaced and beckoned for her to follow him, leading her through the house. Brooke followed along quickly with a sense or dread. There were only three other people that she would call through, and it was impossible that any one of them would come through, unless...

Alexei opened the door, and her dread strengthened as she saw who it was.

"_Maya_?"


End file.
